University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


The  "Venerable  Dean,"  Dr.  Geo.  W.  Hubbard,  of  Meharry 
Medical  College,  now  entering  upon  his  52d  year  of  educational 
work  among  the  colored  people  of  the  South. 


AMERICAN  CIVILIZATION 
AND  THE  NEGRO 


THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  IN  RELATION  TO 
NATIONAL  PROGRESS 


BY 

C.  V.  ROMAN,  A.M.,  M.D.,  LL.D. 

EDITOR  OF  THE  JOURNAL  OF  THE  NATIONAL  MEDICAL  ASSOCIATION  ;    PROFESSOR 
OF  DISEASES  OF  THE  EYE,  EAR,  NOSE  AND  THROAT  IN  MEHARRY  MEDICAL 
COLLEGE,  NASHVILLE,  TENN.;  MEMBER  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ACADEMY 
OF  POLITICAL  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCES:    MEMBER  OF  SOUTHERN 
SOCIOLOGICAL  CONGRESS;  MEMBER  TENNESSEE  CONFER 
ENCE  OF  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTIONS  ;  Ex 
PRESIDENT  NATIONAL  MEDICAL 
ASSOCIATION 


"Slowly  but  surely  we  are  coming  together  ...  The 
pathetic  melody  of  the  Negro  spirituals,  the  brave  and 
rollicking  strains  of  'Dixie,'  and  the  triumphant  har 
mony  of  the  'Star  Spangled  Banner,'  blend  and  inter 
weave  in  the  symphony  of  'America.'" 

GEO.  S.  MKRRIAM,  "The  Negro  and  the  Nation. 


Illustrated  with  Half-tone  Engravings. 


PHILADELPHIA 

F.  A.  DAVIS  COMPANY,  PUBLISHERS 
1921 


COPYRIGHT,  1916 

BY 
P.  A.   DAVIS  COMPANY 


All  Rights  Reserved. 


Philadelphia.  Pa.,  U.  S.  A. 

Preti  of    F.  A.   Davii   Company 

1914-16  Cherry  Street 


TO  THOSE  TRUE  FRIENDS  OF  HUMANITY  WHO  BE 
LIEVE  THAT  ALL  MEN  HAVE  AN  EQUAL  RIGHT  TO 
LIFE,  LIBERTY,  AND  THE  PURSUIT  OF  HAPPINESS  I 

TO  ALL  WHO  DREAM  THE  DREAM  OF  TRUE  DEMOC 
RACY,  AND  LAST,  BUT  NOT  LEAST: 

TO  MY  MOTHER,  WHOSE  WISE  SYMPATHY  AND 
KINDLY  ENCOURAGEMENT  MADE  POSSIBLE  WHATEVER 
GOOD  I  MAY  BE  ABLE  TO  ACCOMPLISH  IN  THIS  WORLD, 

THIS  VOLUME  IS  DEDICATED 

BY 
THE   AUTHOR. 


(iii) 


PREFACE. 


IF  Job  were  an  American  Negro  today  he  would 
have  no  occasion  to  voice  the  desire  that  his  adver 
sary  should  write  a  book;  rather  would  he  lament 
with  the  preacher,  "Of  making  many  books  there  is 
no  end." 

The  problems  herein  presented  have  occupied  my 
attention  for  many  years.  I  have  at  various  times 
written  and  spoken  upon  the  different  phases  of  the 
subject  discussed  in  this  book.  Where  this  material 
represents  my  present  views,  I  have  drawn  freely 
upon  it. 

This  book  is  written  without  bitterness  and  with 
out  bias.  The  author  aims  to  show  that  humanity  is 
one  in  vices  and  virtues  as  well  as  blood;  that  the 
laws  of  evolution  and  progress  apply  equally  to  all; 
that  there  are  no  lethal  diseases  peculiar  to  the 
American  Negro;  that  there  are  no  debasing  vices 
peculiar  to  the  African;  that  there  are  no  cardinal 
virtues  peculiar  to  the  European;  that  we  are  all 
sinners  and  have  come  short  of  the  glories  of  civili 
zation.  Hence,  one  should  be  careful  to  hear  all  the 
available  evidence  before  giving  judgment,  especially 
when  that  judgment  involves  the  welfare  of  a  people. 

On  behalf  of  the  American  people  of  African  de 
scent  I  ask,  in  the  name  of  justice,  for  a  full  exami 
nation  of  the  contents  of  this  volume. 

"He  that  answereth  a  matter  before  he  heareth 
it,  it  is  folly  and  shame  unto  him." 

(v) 


vi  Preface. 

The  value  of  a  book,  certainly  its  readable  inter 
est,  may  depend  as  much  upon  method  as  upon  matter. 
It  will  assist  the  reader,  then,  if  at  the  beginning  he 
may  gain  an  idea  of  both. 

While  presenting  a  continuous  argument,  the  in 
dividual  chapters  are  sufficiently  complete  in  them 
selves  to  stand  a  separate  reading.  So  with  the 
Introduction  and  the  different  parts  of  the  Appendix. 

The  method  of  treatment  and  the  nature  of  the 
subject  have  entailed  occasional  repetition  of  facts 
and  arguments,  which  it  is  hoped  may  prove  a  con 
venience  to  the  reader. 

The  Introduction  is  a  statement  of  general  prin 
ciples,  forecasting  the  argument  and  evidence  to 
follow. 

Chapter  I  is  devoted  to  a  zoological  examination 
of  man  as  an  inhabitant  of  this  world — just  as  we 
might  study  the  lion  or  elephant. 

In  Chapter  II  are  discussed  the  forces  with  which 
man  must  struggle,  and  how  he  treats  his  fellow-man 
in  that  struggle. 

Chapter  III  shows  that  without  exception  there 
is  a  great  deal  of  difference  in  the  separate  individ 
uals  composing  the  different  races  of  mankind. 

Chapter  IV  is  devoted  to  morals.  The  subject  is 
continued  from  another  angle  in  Chapter  V;  while 
some  general  principles  of  human  development  are 
discussed  in  Chapter  VI. 

Chapter  VII  reviews  the  question  of  Negro  slav 
ery  in  America. 

In  Chapter  VIII  we  reach  the  crucial  point  in 
our  study, — the  presence  of  the  colored  man  in  the 
South  and  the  effect  of  such  presence. 


Preface.  vii 

Chapter  IX  is  a  frank  statement  of  what  the 
colored  man  expects  of  the  white  man,  and  Chapter 
X  offers  a  practical  solution  of  our  ethnic  puzzle. 

Chapter  XI  shows  the  value  of  testimony  is  fre 
quently  dependent  upon  the  character  of  the  witness, 

Chapter  XII  is  an  historical  review  of  the  polit 
ical  activity  of  the  colored  man  and  a  forecast  of  his 
future  intentions. 

Chapter  XIII  is  a  scientific  discussion  of  racial 
differences  in  form,  function,  and  thought. 

Chapter  XIV  shows  that  the  colored  man  is  re 
acting  successfully  to  the  American  environment. 

Chapter  XV  is  a  summary  and  conclusion. 

The  Appendix  contains  interesting  and  valuable 
evidential  items  not  suitable  for  introduction  into  the 
body  of  the  argument. 

I  am  especially  grateful  to  the  many  persons  who 
so  kindly  responded  to  the  requests  for  information 
or  assistance  in  gathering  data. 

That  this  volume  may  increase  racial  self-respect 
and  diminish  racial  antagonism  is  the  sincere  wish  of 

THE  AUTHOR. 

NASHVILLE,  TENN. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION 1 

I.    MAN  9 

II.    DOMINATING  FORCES 23 

III.  SOME  VITAL  PHASES  OF  THE  RACIAL  SITUATION  47 

IV.  SOME  BASIC  PROBLEMS  69 

V.    DARK  PAGES  IN  THE  WHITE  MAN'S  CIVILIZATION 95 

VI.    STRUGGLING  TO  THE  LIGHT 125 

VII.    AFRICAN  SLAVERY  IN  AMERICA 141 

VIII.    THE  PRESENCE  OF  THE  NEGRO  AND  PROGRESS  IN  THE  SOUTH  . .  167 
IX.    WHAT  THE  NEGRO  MAY  REASONABLY  EXPECT  OF  THE  WHITE 

MAN  199 

X.    THE  SOLUTION 223 

XI.    PERSONALITY  AND  CRITICISM— "A  CLOUD  OF  WITNESSES."  ...  257 
XII.    WHAT  HAS  THE  AMERICAN  NEGRO  DONE?   WHAT  OUGHT  HE 

TO  Do?    WHAT  WILL  HE  Do? ,. ...  285 

XIII.  RACIAL  DIFFERENCES  321 

XIV.  THE  AMERICAN  ENVIRONMENT 353 

XV.    RECAPITULATION    377 

APPENDIX  A  393 

B  403 

C  406 

D  '. 410 

E  412 

F  414 

G  419 

GLOSSARY 423 

INDEX  .  .  431 


(ix) 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

The  "Venerable  Dean,"  Dr.  Geo.  W.  Hubbard,  of  Meharry  Medical 

College   , Frontispiece 

Negro  Warrior  and  Statesman,  Toussaint  L'Overture  (full-blood)  .  8 

Malay  Boy  of  the  Straits  Settlement 40 

Afro-Americans  with  More  than  National  Reputation 4# 

An  African  Methodist  Episcopal   Senior  Bishop  and  His  Prede 
cessors  56 

Prominent  Colored  Americans 120 

Successful  Young  Colored  Americans 128 

Cettiwayo,  Zulu  Chieftain  who  Annihilated  British  Regiment 136 

Arts  and  Crafts  among  the  Kaffirs  (Deniker)   152 

Full-blood  types:    a  Brilliant  High-school   Teacher  and  a  Win 
ner  of  Intellectual  Prizes    168 

Editorial  Staff  of  the  Journal  of  National  Medical  Association  ....  176 

A  Group  of  University  Men 184 

A  Summer  School  for  Colored  Teachers.    Nearly  1000  in  Attend 
ance  (1915)    192 

Visit  of  the  Legislature  to  the  State  Normal  School  (Colored) 192 

Successful  Men  in  Various  Lines  of  Endeavor 196 

Twentieth-century  Civilization.      ("Causes  and   Cures  of   Crime," 
Mosby.)  200 

Prominent  Colored  Americans  208 

Individual  Types 224 

A  Typical  Family  Group  252 

Members  of  Faculty  of  Meharry  Medical,   Dental,  and  Pharma 
ceutical  Colleges,  Walden  University  (1915)   256 

Noted  Musicians 264 

Harriet  Tubman  Tablet 272 

Hon.  Fred  Douglass  296 

Sojourner  Truth.     (Courtesy  of  "The  Crisis.")   300 

The  Public-school  Principals  of  a  Southern  City  (1915)   312 

Prominent  Colored  Men,  Full-blood  and  Mixed-blood.     Which  is 
which?  328 

Childhood  in  Colored  America.     (Courtesy  of  "The  Crisis.")   344 

A    Social    Club    of    Self-supporting    Young    Women    (Teachers, 

Stenographers,  and  Bookkeepers)  Who  Have  Made  Good 352 

"Friends,"  Meharry  Medical  College   (1915)    360 

Medical  Graduates 368 

Mixed-blood  Types  376 

Random  Types  384 

Random  Types   388 

(xi) 


'THE  ACID  TEST.— The  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence  furnishes  an  infallible  test  for  every  important 
public  measure.  However  plausible  the  argument  in 
its  favor,  no  governmental  policy  can  be  right  which 
is  not  strictly  in  accord  with  the  doctrine  that  all 
men  have  equal  rights  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness.  That  is  the  test  which  cannot  be  safely 
undergone  by  any  of  the  laws  or  policies  conferring 
privileges,  limiting  suffrage,  or  tending  to  interfere 
with  the  individual's  right  to  freedom  of  action 
limited  only  by  the  equal  rights  of  others." 

SAMUEL  DANZIGER. 
THE  PUBLIC, 
July  2,  1915. 


(xii) 


INTRODUCTION. 


ONE  of  the  oldest  and  meanest  of  human  follies 
is  to  blame  one's  short-comings  upon  others.  The 
black  man  is  not  to  blame  for  the  white  man's  short 
comings,  nor  is  he  a  menace  to  the  white  man's  civi 
lization;  neither  is  the  white  man  to  blame  for  all  of 
the  black  man's  woes,  nor  is  he  the  only  bar  to  the 
black  man's  progress.  The  most  serious  problem  con 
fronting  each  race  now  is  the  conquering  of  its  own 
follies.  Abusing  each  other  only  complicates  the  sit 
uation  and  helps  nobody.  The  virulence  of  syphilis 
was  not  lessened  by  the  English  calling  it  French 
pox,  and  the  French  calling  it  Russian  disease,  and 
the  Russians  calling  it  English  disease ;  or  by  the  Ger 
mans  saying  it  came  from  Italy,  and  the  Italians  say 
ing  it  came  from  Spain,  and  the  Spanish  saying  it  came 
from  the  American  Indians.  All  of  this  accusation 
contributed  not  one  whit  to  the  prevention  or  cure  of 
that  vile  tax  on  human  depravity.  But  vituperation 
ceased  and  effective  remedies  followed  dispassionate 
and  impartial  investigation.  So  the  vexed  race  ques 
tion  will  disappear  in  the  wider  problems  of  human 
justice  and  human  welfare. 

Humanity  is  greater  than  race.  It  is  said  that 
Napoleon  lost  the  Battle  of  Waterloo  because  he  mis 
understood  the  topography  of  the  region  over  which 
his  cavalry  had  to  pass  in  their  charge  against  the 
allied  armies  under  Wellington.  Ignoring  a  sunken 
road  precipitated  a  series  of  reverses  that  ended  ig- 
nominiously  the  martial  career  of  the  First  Napoleon 
and  eclipsed  forever  his  star  of  world-wide  conquest. 

(1) 


American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

The  careers  of  nations  are  typified  in  the  careers 
of  individuals.  The  Caucasian  is  the  conquering  war 
lord  among  nations,  and  seems  destined  to  rule  the 
world.  There  is,  however,  a  chasm  in  his  path,  whose 
depths  and  dangers  he  seems  unable  to  appreciate. 
It  is  color  prejudice, — the  effort  to  substitute  race 
for  merit  in  measuring  men. 

Modern  civilization  will  go  the  way  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah  unless  justice  and  fraternity  can  obtain 
a  firmer  hold  on  the  hearts  and  brains  of  men.  No 
civilization  can  become  world-wide  and  enduring  if  a 
white  skin  is  the  indispensable  passport  to  justice  and 
distinction.  This  would  exclude  from  the  fruits  of 
civilization  the  majority  of  mankind. 

The  laboring  white  man  is  dwelling  in  a  fool's 
paradise  if  he  expects  to  find  justice  and  fair  play  for 
himself  while  assisting  in  denying  them  to  the  laboring 
black  man.  Human  experience  and  the  laws  of  nature 
are  both  against  his  expectations. 

Justice  and  liberty  are  for  all  or  for  none.  In 
justice  cannot  linger  in  a  land  that  is  really  "bright 
with  freedom's  holy  light." 

No  tyrant  was  ever  free.  No  man  is  secure  in  his 
rights  so  long  as  any  man  is  deprived  of  his  rights. 
It  is  easier  to  be  generous  than  to  be  just.  Man's  hope 
of  justice  has  ever  been  an  idle  dream,  and  his  quest 
for  liberty  a  fool's  errand;  because  he  is  not  willing 
to  be  just,  nor  to  meet  the  conditions  of  freedom. 

As  to  the  ultimate  future  of  the  races  in  this 
country,  no  one  knows  what  it  will  be;  and  it  is 
not  profitable  to  speculate.  Ultimate  problems  belong 
not  to  science,  but  to  religion  and  philosophy.  Com 
mon  sense  says :  "Do  right  and  be  just  in  the  present ; 
this  will  prepare  you  for  the  future  when  it  becomes 
the  present." 


Introduction. 


The  inhabitants  of  the  South  are  geographically 
one  people,  but  ethnically  two  races.  All  practical 
propositions  for  betterment  must  assume  the  perma 
nency  of  this  condition.  It  is  wiser,  therefore,  that 
they  respect  each  other  and  co-operate  for  the  common 
good,  marching  in  separate  regiments,  but  solid  pha 
lanx,  to  the  music  of  civilization.  Racial  integrity 
and  interracial  confidence  and  respect  are  now  the 
wise  course. 

The  writer  of  this  volume  believes  that  the  differ 
ences  in  mankind  are  the  differences  between  charcoal 
and  diamond — difference  of  condition  and  not  of  com 
position.  Quatrefages  is  right:  there  is  but  one 
species  of  man.  St.  Paul  is  right:  men  are  of  one 
blood.  Religion  and  science  agree  in  prescribing  the 
same  treatment  for  all — intelligence,  mercy,  and  jus 
tice.  All  races  of  men  are  capable  of  the  same  virtues 
and  susceptible  to  the  same  vices. 

The  opposition  to  this  doctrine  springs  from 
hatred  and  error — the  twin  children  of  misinforma 
tion  and  inexperience,  whose  devotees  not  only  dislike 
and  mistrust  their  fellow-men,  but  dislike  the  very 
idea  of  justice  and  fair  play.  They  not  only  claim  that 
they  are  right,  but  wish  to  make  everybody  else  con 
form  to  their  views.  They  dislike  people  who  hold 
dissenting  opinions.  Hence  arise  persecutions,  which 
always  spring  from  ignorance  and  hate,  and  not  from 
love  and  knowledge  as  the  persecutors  claim. 

The  incompatibilities  of  races  are  psychological 
and  not  physiological;  a  conflict  of  cultural  interests 
and  beliefs  rather  than  an  antagonism  of  physical 
lineament  and  chemical  content  of  blood.  The  great 
European  War  illustrates  one  phase  of  this  proposi 
tion,  and  the  numerous  mixed  progeny  of  the  white 
man's  contact  with  every  race  on  earth  illustrates  the 
other. 


4  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

It  is  with  deepest  regret  that  the  author  uncovers 
the  cess-pools  of  human  depravity  exposed  in  some 
chapters  of  this  work.  It  is  only  the  "damnable 
iterations"  of  prejudice  and  injustice  that  make  this 
unpleasant  task  necessary.  The  half-scientific  rubbish 
and  historical  mendacity  that  seek  to  parade  sexual 
excesses  and  moral  delinquencies  as  peculiar  racial 
vices  are  a  travesty  upon  learning,  a  perversion  of 
justice,  and  a  degradation  of  human  reason.  There 
is  nothing  in  the  way  of  personal  virtue  that  savage 
man  is  not  capable  of;  and  there  is  nothing  in  the 
way  of  viciousness  that  civilized  man  is  not  guilty  of. 

For  filth,  moral  and  physical ;  for  cruelty,  heartless 
and  brutal ;  for  venery,  homosexual  and  heterosexual ; 
for  orgies,  bestial  and  abandoned ;  for  the  degradation 
of  women  and  the  perversion  of  animal  instinct;  for 
all  that  is  worst  in  the  human  animal ;  go  not  among 
the  heathen  denizens  of  darkest  Africa,  but  among 
the  civilized  inhabitants  of  our  city  slums. 

That  men  of  scientific  training  and  historic  and 
social  knowledge  should  be  willing  to  pervert  their 
talents  and  retard  human  progress  by  leading  the 
superficial  and  thoughtless  to  believe  that  culture  may 
be  measured  by  color  and  morals  limned  by  race,  is  a 
sad  phase  of  "man's  inhumanity  to  man,"  and  a  woe 
ful  example  of  the  determination  of  some  people  to 
make  a  noise  regardless  of  the  canons  of  truth. 

The  variations  in  the  different  races  are  just  about 
the  same;  that  is,  the  difference  between  the  lowest 
colored  man  and  the  highest  colored  man  is  just  as 
great  as  from  the  lowest  white  man  to  the  highest 
white  man.  Cettiwayo  was  as  supreme  over  his  com 
mand  when  he  annihilated  the  British  regiment  as  was 
Caesar  when  he  overcame  the  Nervii. 

Someone  has  said  that  lies  are  of  three  kinds ;  plain 
lies,  d d  lies,  and  statistics.  The  assertion  that 


Introduction. 


all  colored  people  are  alike  in  intellectuality  and  moral 
stamina  partakes  of  all  the  elements  of  this  triplicate 
form  of  mendacity.  Even  horses,  cattle,  and  dogs 
vary  in  intelligence,  affection,  and  appetite;  as  any 
observing  farmer,  dairyman,  or  dog  fancier  can  tell 
you.  The  poet  has  said  that 

"Error,  wounded, 
Writhes  in  pain  and  dies  amid  her  worshippers." 

But  here  is  an  ethnological  "error"  that  seemingly 
"age  cannot  wither,  nor  custom  stale  its  infinite 
variety." 

Though  contrary  alike  to  science,  common  sense, 
and  daily  experience,  it  is  foisted  upon  the  public 
as  the  pure  gold  of  truth  in  the  currency  of  argument 
on  the  race  question. 

In  this  work  an  effort  will  be  made  to  administer 
a  lethal  dose  of  truth  to  this  hoary  old  falsehood. 

Judgments  are  either  problematic,  assertory,  or 
apodictic.  Problematic  or  contingent  judgments  are 
usually  sufficiently  obvious  to  be  recognized  at  their 
true  value,  and  hence  give  little  trouble  to  the  honest 
and  intelligent  thinker.  But  not  so  with  the  other 
two.  The  average  person,  while  recognizing  read 
ily  enough  a  guess,  hopelessly  confuses  facts  with 
opinions. 

"Assertory  judgments  are  true  and  certain  sub 
jectively  but  not  objectively;  that  is,  sure  to  him  who 
holds  them,  but  incapable  of  being  enforced  on  the 
acceptance  of  others  of  a  different  moral  disposition." 
In  these  judgments  men  of  equal  intelligence  and 
honesty  often  differ.  This,  and  not  dishonesty  or  self- 
interest,  is  the  usual  explanation  of  the  majority 
decisions  of  our  higher  courts.  Misunderstanding 
rather  than  meanness  makes  men  unjust. 

"Apodictic  or  demonstrative  judgments  are  sub- 


6  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

jectively  and  objectively  sure  and  capable  of  being 
enforced  upon  all  of  sane  mind,  who  can  be  made  to 
understand  them."  In  these  judgments  all  sane 
people  of  equal  intelligence  and  honesty  reach  the 
same  conclusions. 

Apodictic  judgments  are,  therefore,  proper  sub 
jects  for  exposition,  illustration,  or  demonstration; 
depending  for  their  acceptance  upon  intrinsic  merit, 
the  character  of  the  witness  presenting  them  being  of 
no  importance  whatever.  They  are  facts. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  accuracy  of  assertory  judg 
ments  depends  upon  the  mental  processes  of  the 
individual  rendering  them.  They  are  opinions.  Here 
the  character  of  the  witness  becomes  of  extremest  im 
portance.  In  this  class  of  testimony,  then,  other 
things  being  equal,  disinterested  or  altruistic  witnesses 
are  the  most  reliable,  and  self-interested  or  partisan 
witnesses  are  the  least  reliable. 

The  conclusions  of  ethnology  are  largely  asser 
tory;  hence,  to  arrive  at  the  truth,  we  eliminate  the 
palpably  false  and  self-serving  witnesses  and  accept, 
what  the  lawyers  call,  the  preponderance  of  evidence. 

The  facts  of  history  and  the  preponderance  of 
civilized  opinion  are  on  the  side  of  the  propositions 
which  are  amplified  with  proof  in  the  succeeding 
chapters  of  this  book. 

In  the  interest  of  scientific  impartiality,  the  author 
has  introduced  certain  testimony  in  the  exact  language 
of  the  original  sources. 

This  is  not  a  statistical  compilation  of  racial 
achievements  and  possessions,  but  an  inquiry  into 
racial  traits,  tendencies,  and  capabilities — an  effort  to 
examine  basic  facts,  and  not  an  attempt  to  compile 
details. 

There  is  a  tendency  to  obscure  fundamental  prin 
ciples  by  accumulating  a  number  of  pleasant  but  in- 


Introduction. 


cidental  and  uninteresting  details.  We  deny  to  men 
the  right  of  making  a  living  and  try  to  cover  up  the 
unpleasant  matter  by  showing  how  often  we  have 
given  a  dinner  to  a  hungry  man.  Thus,  a  visitor  to 
any  one  of  several  large  Southern  cities,  inquiring  into 
the  workings  of  the  double-school  system,  would  be 
told  a  great  deal  about  what  is  being  done  for  the 
colored  people  in  an  educational  way,1  and  maybe 
shown  some  of  the  more  creditable  buildings,  etc.  It 
would  take  a  great  deal  of  skill  and  effort  to  extract 
from  the  city  officials  the  following  facts : — 

1.  White  teachers  are  paid  better  salaries  than 
colored  teachers  for  the  same  work. 

2.  The  colored  teachers  have,  on  the  average,  more 
children  to  teach. 

3.  On  the  whole,  the  buildings  for  the  colored  chil 
dren  are  inferior  to  those  for  the  white. 

4.  There  are  nearly  twice  as  many  grades  in  the 
white  schools  as  in  the  colored. 

5.  The  capacity  of  the  white  schools  is  sufficient 
to  accommodate  the  white  school  population. 

6.  This  is  not  true  of  the  colored  schools;  for,  in 
ferior  as  they  are,  they  will  not  begin  to  admit  the 
colored  children  of  school  age. 

7.  The  colored  children  are  not  given  the  same 
time  in  the  grades  nor  the  same  equipment  in  the 
schools. 

Now,  all  of  these  specific  injustices  and  a  thousand 
others  grow  out  of  one  basic  principle, — denial  of  the 
Negro's  manhood,  womanhood,  and  citizenship  rights. 
Correct  this  one  fundamental  error,  and  all  of  these 
manifestations  of  injustice  will  disappear  at  once. 

This  is  the  condition  of  the  race  question  today. 
We  ignore  fundamental  principles  in  our  interminable 
wrangling  over  details. 

1  See  page  371  and  Appendix  G. 


I  think  all  the  investigations  that  have  been 
made  up  to  the  present  time  compel  us  to  assume  that 
the  characteristics  of  the  osseous,  muscular,  visceral, 
or  circulatory  system  have  practically  no  direct  rela 
tion  to  the  mental  ability  of  man  (Manouvrier). — 
Quoted  with  approval  by  Boas. 

"A  light  that  twinkles  in  a  distant  star, 
A  wave  of  ocean  surging  on  the  shore, 
One  substance  with  the  sea;  a  wing  to  soar 
Forever  onward  to  the  peaks  afar, 
A  soul  to  love,  a  mind  to  learn  God's  plan, 
A  child  of  the  eternal — such  is  man." 

A.  D.  WATSON. 


(8) 


I  E 


Negro  warrior  and  statesman,  Toussaint  L'Overture  (full- 
blood),  the  leader  of  the  only  successful  slave  rebellion  in  the 
history  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MAN. 

MAN  is  so  self-centered  in  his  thinking  that  he 
views  everything,  even  his  fellow-man,  in  relation  to 
himself.  Nature  he  studies  that  he  may  dominate; 
God,  he  ponders  that  he  may  anticipate;  Time  is  his 
instrument,  and  Eternity  his  hope.  It  is  this  auto- 
centric  attitude  which  has  crystallized  the  conclusions 
of  human  experience  into  the  sentiment  that  "the 
proper  study  of  mankind  is  man." 

One  of  the  vivid  recollections  of  my  childhood  days 
is  the  first  circus  parade  I  ever  saw.  I  was  10  years 
old  and  imagination  was  active.  For  days  groups  of 
boys  had  stood  before  the  circus  bills  and  discussed 
with  bated  breath  the  coming  sights.  Could  a  man 
lead  an  elephant  by  the  ear?  Could  anybody  in  our 
day  and  generation  repeat  the  inimitable  feat  of  Daniel 
— enter  a  den  of  lions? 

With  great  excitement  we  took  our  places  to  watch 
for  these  wonderful  sights  upon  that  fateful  day. 

The  half  had  not  been  told.  All  the  daring  feats 
of  the  handbills  were  being  enacted  before  our  very 
eyes.  I  was  differently  affected  from  my  companions. 
They  were  carried  away  with  admiration  for  the  cour 
age  of  the  men.  I  was  puzzled  at  the  conduct  of  the 
animals.  Why  did  the  lithe  and  restless  tiger  hide  in 
the  corner  and  tremble  when  the  keeper  struck  the 
bars  of  his  cage?  Why  was  the  lion  afraid  of  a  man 
with  a  rawhide  ?  Why  did  not  the  elephant  strike  back 
when  the  man  struck  him  with  a  goad  ?  Aye !  Why  ? 
Why?  And  my  head  throbbed  with  excitement  that 
night  as  I  tossed  upon  a  sleepless  pillow.  Ever  and 
anon  that  vibrant  interrogation  echoes  through  the 

(9) 


10  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

halls  of  memory;  and  while  this  work  is  the  result  of 
deep  meditation  upon  the  problems  of  today,  it  had  its 
beginning  in  that  awful  puzzle  of  my  youthful  years. 

I. 

Man  in  his  bodily  makeup  is  an  animal.  All 
intelligent  people  who  investigate  the  subject  are 
forced  to  this  conclusion.  Man  in  his  bodily  makeup 
is  an  animal, — a  blood-kinsman  to  the  myriads  of 
living  things  that  move,  struggle,  and  die  upon  the 
bosom  of  our  common  mother,  earth. 

"Linnaeus,  in  his  'Systema  Naturae/  classified  Man 
in  the  Animal  Kingdom  by  designating  the  Order  of 
Primates  as  composed  of  three  groups — Half-apes, 
Apes,  and  Man  (Lemur,  Simia,  and  Homo). 

"Later,  Cuvier  classified  the  animal  world  into 
Vertebrata,  Articulata,  Molluska,  and  Radiata. 
Gegenbaur  proved  man  was  a  vertebrate.  Our  whole 
frame,  both  in  its  general  plan  and  its  detailed 
structure,  presents  the  characteristic  type  of  the 
vertebrate." 

This  is  no  longer  seriously  doubted  by  intelligent 
thinkers.  Yet  few  thinkers  are  able  to  summarize  the 
evidence.  I  therefore  introduce  here  the  masterly 
summing  up  of  Ernst  Haeckel,  the  great  German 
philosopher  and  scientist,  in  his  "Die  Weltrathsel" 
(The  World-riddle).  Whatever  we  may  think  of  his 
philosophy,  we  cannot  deny  his  facts. 

Haeckel  shows  that  even  in  the  finest  histological 
relations  man  is  a  true  mammal.  In  his  osseous  sys 
tem  man  is  a  true  vertebrate;  in  Aristotle's  classifica 
tion  of  the  higher  warm-blooded  animals,  man  is  a  true 
tetrapod;  embryologically  considered,  man  is  a  true 
placental;  in  the  arrangement  of  his  extremities  man 
is  a  true  primate.  "In  these  and  other  important  re- 


Man.  11 

spects,  particularly  in  the  construction  of  the  face  and 
hands,"  he  goes  on  to  say,  "man  presents  all  the 
anatomical  marks  of  a  true  ape"  These  facts  are  set 
forth  with  a  wealth  of  detail  that  is  astonishing  and  a 
lucidity  of  expression  that  is  charming.  Space  will 
permit  only  his  closing  words. 

"Thus  comparative  anatomy  proves  to  the  satis 
faction  of  every  unprejudiced  and  critical  student  the 
significant  fact  that  the  body  of  man  and  of  that  of 
the  anthropoid  apes  are  not  only  peculiarly  similar, 
but  they  are  practically  one  and  the  same  in  every 
important  respect.  The  same  two  hundred  bones  in 
the  same  order  and  structure,  make  up  our  inner 
skeleton;  the  same  three  hundred  muscles  effect  our 
movements;  the  same  hair  clothes  our  skin;  the  same 
groups  of  ganglionic  cells  build  up  the  marvelous 
structure  of  our  brain ;  the  same  four-chambered  heart 
is  the  central  pulsimeter  in  our  circulation;  the  same 
thirty-two  teeth  are  set  in  the  same  order  in  our  jaws ; 
the  same  salivary,  hepatic,  and  gastric  glands  compass 
our  digestive  process;  the  same  reproductive  organs 
insure  the  maintenance  of  our  race. 

"It  is  true  that  we  find,  on  close  examination,  cer 
tain  minor  differences  in  point  of  size  and  shape  in 
most  of  the  organs  of  man  and  the  ape;  but  we  dis 
cover  the  same,  or  similar,  differences  among  the  dif 
ferent  races  of  men,  when  we  make  a  careful  com 
parison — even,  in  fact,  in  a  minute  comparison  of  the 
various  individuals  of  our  own  race.  We  find  no  two 
persons  who  have  exactly  the  same  size  and  form  of 
nose,  ears,  eyes,  and  so  forth.  One  has  only  to  com 
pare  attentively  these  special  features  in  many  dif 
ferent  persons  in  any  large  company  to  convince  one's 
self  of  the  astonishing  diversity  of  their  construction 
and  the  infinite  variability  of  specific  forms.  Not  in 
frequently  even  two  sisters  are  so  much  unlike  as  to 


12  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

make  their  origin  from  the  same  parents  almost 
incredible.  Yet  all  these  individual  variations  do  not 
weaken  the  significance  of  the  fundamental  similarity 
of  structure;  they  are  traceable  to  certain  minute 
differences  in  the  growth  of  the  individual  features/' 

This  is  the  truth  beyond  all  cavil.  In  his  bodily 
makeup,  man  is  an  animal.  But  this  is  not  all ;  man's 
body  is  in  many  points  inferior  to  that  of  his  fellow- 
creatures.  In  strength  he  is  outdone  by  many  of  the 
lower  animals.  It  is  a  compliment  to  a  man  to  call  him 
a  lion.  The  elephant  will  outlive  several  keepers.  The 
average  animal  will  easily  live  six  times  as  long  as  it 
takes  it  to  grow  up.  Man  seldom  or  never  does.  No 
amount  of  training  will  render  a  man  as  agile  as  a 
cat  or  a  tiger.  Dogs  have  twice  the  hunger  endurance 
of  men.  The  animal  world  can,  as  a  rule,  see,  hear, 
and  smell  better  than  man.  Compare  man's  feeble 
orientation1  with  the  wonderful  development  of  that 
faculty  in  birds  and  insects.  The  accuracy  of  the  in 
sects'  orientation  is  embalmed  in  the  proverbs  of  our 
language.  Everyone  knows  what  it  is  to  make  "a  bee- 
line"  for  a  place.  "A  swallow,  nesting  in  New  Eng 
land  and  wintering  in  Panama,  can  return  to  the 
rafter  in  the  barn  where  its  nest  was  last  year."  A 
homing  pigeon  will  return  safely  over  hundreds 
of  miles.  Every  intelligent  horseman  knows  the 
superiority  of  the  horse  over  man  in  that  particular. 
The  cat's  power  in  this  line  is  both  a  proverb  and  a 

"And  the  cat  came  back." 

But  why  multiply  examples?  Man  is  not  only  a 
member  of  the  animal  kingdom  by  consanguinity,  but 
in  many  ways  an  inferior  member. 

Nevertheless,  man  is  the  undisputed  lord  of  this 

1  The  ability  to  find  one's  way, — especially  to  locate  points  of  the 
compass. 


Man.  13 

world.  Neither  the  keenness  of  the  eagle's  eye  nor 
the  stretch  of  his  mighty  pinions  has  availed  him  to 
elude  man's  dominion.  The  lion  is  the  king  of  the 
forest  only  so  long  as  man  is  absent.  The  eagle's  eye 
is  keener  than  man's,  but  man  sees  farther  than  the 
eagle.  The  fox  has  a  more  delicate  sense  of  smell,  but 
man  traps  the  fox.  The  elephant's  massive  strength 
does  not  enable  him  to  resist  man's  puny  hands. 

"From  Greenland's  icy  mountain," 
To  "India's  coral  strand," 

from  far-off  Cathay  to 

"Where  rolls  the  lonely  Oregon, 
Amid  the  sound  of  his  own  dashings," 

from  the  frozen  haunts  of  the  stunted  Esquimaux, 

"Where  the  wolf  and  Northern  fox 
Prowl  among  the  lonely  rocks, 
And  tardy  suns  to  desert  drear, 
Give  days  and  nights  of  half  a  year," 

from  these  cheerless  regions  to  the  ice-bound  shores 
of  remotely  southern  seas, — "from  the  rivers  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth,"  so  far  as  any  other  terrestrial  in 
habitant  is  concerned,  man  is  king.  He  has  sounded 
the  chambers  of  the  mighty  deep  and  robbed  the 
savage  denizens  of  their  terrors.  With  ingenious 
contrivances  and  intrepid  daring  he  is  treading  the 
uncertain  pathway  of  the  wind. 

Man  is  the  soul  of  the  world,  the  triumph  of 
Nature,  and  the  masterpiece  of  God's  handiwork. 

"What  a  piece  of  work  is  man ! 
How  noble  in  reason ! 
How  infinite  in  faculty ! 

In  form  and  moving  how  express  and  admirable ! 
In  action  how  like  an  angel! 
In  apprehension  how  like  a  God !" 


14  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

"Glory  to  man  in  the  highest, 
For  man  is  the  maker  of  things." 

He  has  climbed  the  heights  of  knowledge  by  slow 
and  painful  steps,  and,  standing  upon  the  Himalaya 
of  mundane  achievements,  proudly  and  truthfully 
declares, 

"I  am  monarch  of  all  I  survey, 
My  right  there  is  none  to  dispute, 
From  the  center  all  round  to  the  sea, 
I  am  lord  of  the  fowl  and  the  brute." 

There  is  but  one  menace  to  man's  rule  in  this  world 
now,  and  that  is  man.  There  is  but  one  obstacle  to 
man's  earthly  happiness,  man. 

But  how  did  man  obtain  this  pre-eminence  over  his 
animal  kinsmen?  The  same  answer  occurs  to  every 
intelligent  investigator.  Reason,  or  the  power  to 
think,  is  the  magic  wand  by  means  of  which  man  has 
overridden  obstacles  in  his  upward  march. 

Whether  we  accept  the  soulless  monism  of  Haeckel 
or  the  bodiless  transcendentalism  of  Mrs.  Eddy — 
whatever  our  beliefs  as  to  the  whys  and  wherefores  of 
the  universe,  we  are  bound  to  admit  that  reason,  or 
the  power  of  logical,  dynamic  thought,  forms  the  one 
impassable  barrier  between  man  and  beast, — impass 
able  in  only  one  direction.  It  cannot  be  crossed  by  the 
beast,  but  it  may  be  by  man.  A  beast  cannot  become 
a  man,  but  the  converse  of  this  proposition  is  not  true. 
We  have  many  examples  of  man's  descent  to  the 
beast's  estate. 

Physically,  man  is  as  much  bound  to  the  earth  and 
as  dependent  upon  it  as  the  meanest  worm  that  crawls. 
Man  is  indeed  of  the  earth,  earthy;  physiologically  as 
well  as  anatomically. 

We  know  nothing  of  life  aside  from  its  physical 
basis,  the  body;  and  all  the  mental  and  spiritual  facul- 


Man.  15 

ties  of  man  spring  from  this  source,  as  music  from  a 
harp.  Yet  the  body  is  not  man  any  more  than  the 
harp  is  music;  but  as  we  know  not  music  aside  from 
the  instrument,  so  we  know  not  man  aside  from  the 
body.  The  better  the  harp,  however,  the  better  the 
music;  and,  other  things  being  equal,  the  better  the 
body  the  better  the  man. 

Nature  is  neither  charitable  nor  kind,  but  ex 
tremely  selfish.  She  discriminates  always  in  favor  of 
her  friends — the  fit.  She  gives  life  only  on  her  own 
terms.  Physical  stamina  and  longevity  are  the  re 
wards  of  obedience — rewards  that  come  whether  the 
recipient  is,  or  is  not,  conscious  of  their  immanence. 
She  values  not  intelligence  that  does  not  harmonize 
with  her  methods.  She  knows  neither  race  nor  color, 
nor  fool  nor  philosopher — only  the  fit  and  the  unfit — 
obedient  and  disobedient. 

When  the  vital  forces  of  the  body,  whether  human 
or  animal,  harmoniously  and  successfully  act  and 
react  with  the  environment,  the  result  is  health. 
When  the  reaction  is  inadequate  or  inharmonious,  the 
result  is  disease.  When  the  reaction  ceases  the  result 
is  death,  and  the  body  follows  the  elemental  laws  of 
matter. 

There  are  three  dominating  traits  that  normally 
gain  control  of  our  lives,  namely,  digestive,  sexual, 
intellectual.  In  other  words,  man's  pleasurable 
physical  activities  to  be  healthful  must  be  either  nutri 
tional,  emotional,  or  intellectual;  and  it  is  the  dis 
crimination  in  regard  to  the  proper  sequence  of  these 
that  differentiates  man  from  his  fellow-animals. 

The  digestive  tract  is  rightly  called  prima  via 
(first  way).  Man's  first  impulse  after  he  draws  the 
breath  of  life  is  to  eat.  He  shares  individually  the 
common  impulse  of  animated  nature  to  cleave  unto 
life.  Having  gained  a  foothold  for  himself,  the  next 


16  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

great  impulse  (stronger  than  the  .desire  to  live)  is  the 
perpetuity  of  the  species  by  reproduction.  These 
dominating  passions  are  finally  subjugated  completely 
by  the  slowly  evolving  intellectual  faculties ;  and  man 
becomes  the  "moral  and  intellectual  sensorium  of 
nature." 

There  is  no  superiority  of  flesh  and  blood.  In  this 
respect  "Man  hath  no  pre-eminence  above  a  beast," 
much  less  his  fellow-man.  Intelligence  alone  dis 
tinguishes  man  from  beast,  and  forms  the  only  basis 
for  justice  and  fraternity  among  men. 

II. 

Waiving  the  question  as  to  whether  the  difference 
between  reason  and  instinct  is  one  of  kind  or  degree, 
and  whether  reason  is  an  evolution  or  a  special 
creation,  let  us  notice  certain  distinctively  human 
attributes : — 

1.  Man  is  the  only  animal  adapted  to  an  upright 
posture   and  locomotion,   and   whose   brain   literally 
crowns  his  body. 

2.  Man  is  the  only  animal  that  has  developed  a 
thumb — one  digit  that  can  oppose  one  or  all  of  the 
other  digits  of  the  same  hand.    The  hand  of  the  ape 
approaches   that   of   man   in   effectiveness   no   more 
closely  than  does  the  face  of  the  orang-outang  ap 
proach  the  beauty  of  the  human  countenance. 

3.  Man  is  the  only  animal  that  has  the  power  of 
communicating  directly  his   experiences   to   another 
member  of  his  kind. 

Warning  each  other  at  the  approach  of  an  enemy, 
calling  to  their  mates  and  summoning  their  young; 
locating  food  for  each  other,  etc.,  are  habits  of  animals 
that  simulate  so  strikingly  human  communication,  that 
we  may  concede  the  point  and  let  man's  superiority 


Man.  17 

rest  upon  degree  and  not  upon  kind.  Language,  in 
deed,  may  not  be  man's  sole  prerogative,  yet,  here 
voice  has  reached  its  culminating  grandeur  and  impor 
tance.  Written  language  is  not  only  unknown  to 
beasts,  but  to  the  less  enlightened  families  of  men. 
So  evidently  true  is  this,  that  a  famous  advocate  of 
Negro  inferiority  was  willing  to  put  a  knowledge  of 
Greek  as  a  bridge  for  the  Negro  to  cross,  if  he  could, 
into  the  realm  of  American  citizenship. 

Professor  Boas  very  truly  says:  "The  difference 
between  the  minds  of  animals  and  of  man  are  so  strik 
ing  that  little  or  no  diversity  of  opinion  exists.  The 
two  outer  traits  in  which  the  distinction  between  the 
minds  of  animals  and  of  man  finds  expression  are  the 
existence  of  organized  articulate  language  in  man, 
and  the  use  of  utensils  of  varied  application.  Both 
of  these  are  common  to  the  whole  of  mankind.  No 
tribe  has  ever  been  found  that  does  not  possess  a  well- 
organized  language;  no  community  that  does  not 
know  the  use  of  instruments  for  baking,  cutting,  or 
drilling;  the  use  of  fire  and  weapons  with  which  to 
defend  themselves,  and  to  obtain  the  means  of  living. 
Although  means  of  communication  by  sound  exist  in 
animals,  and  although  even  lower  animals  seem  to 
have  means  of  bringing  about  co-operation  between 
the  different  individuals,  we  do  not  know  of  any  case 
of  true  articulate  language  from  which  the  student 
can  extract  abstract  principles  of  classification  of 
ideas.  It  may  also  be  that  the  higher  apes  employ 
now  and  then  limbs  of  trees  or  stones  for  defense,  but 
the  use  of  complex  utensils  is  not  found  in  any  repre 
sentative  of  the  animal  series."  ("Mind  of  Primitive 
Man/')  y 

4.  Man  is  the  only  animal  that  can  make  a  fire,  use 
a  tool,  or  clothe  himself.  These  factors  alone  have 
enabled  him  to  make  the  entire  world  his  dwelling- 


18  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

place — disregarding  alike  climatic  conditions  and  the 
opposition  of  nature's  teeming  millions.  "In  fact, 
man  inhabits  the  whole  earth  from  the  icy  regions  of 
Greenland  (in  the  neighborhood  of  the  eightieth  de 
gree  of  north  latitude)  to  the  torrid  zone,  which 
stretches  between  the  tropic  of  Cancer  and  the 
equator.  He  is  found  in  countries  situated  at  seventy- 
five  or  two  hundred  meters  below  the  level  of  the  sea 
(Caspian  depression,  depression  of  Louktchin  in  East 
ern  Turkestan),  as  well  as  on  the  table-lands  at  an 
elevation  of  more  than  five  thousand  meters, — 
Thibet."  (Deniker.) 

5.  Man  is  the  only  animal  that  takes  any  cog 
nizance  of  the  future.  Superficial  observation  might 
lead  one  to  doubt  this  proposition.  The  thickening  of 
the  hairy  coat  of  some  animals;  the  preparation  of 
their  beds  by  others  (hybernates)  ;  the  storing  of  food 
supplies  by  ants,  bees,  squirrels,  etc. ;  the  long  journeys 
of  the  migrating  ones  (birds  and  fishes)  seem  like 
intelligent  preparation  for  future  contingencies — a 
superior  kind  of  foresight  often  wanting  in  man. 
Closer  observation,  however,  will  show  that  these 
habits  are  hereditary,  tribal  (phylogenetic2),  and 
instinctive — a  part  of  that  evolutionary  wisdom  com 
mon  to  all  living  things;  same  as  eating,  drinking, 
walking,  etc. ;  an  adaptation  to  environment,  without 
which  life  were  impossible.  Blind  compliance  with  the 
necessary  laws  of  their  existence  is  not  an  evidence 
that  animals  have  a  care  for  the  future,  any  more  than 
acorns  are  an  indication  that  an  oak-tree  has  a  care 
for  the  perpetuity  of  its  species. 

Beyond  a  doubt,  man  is  the  only  creature  who  has 
any  intelligent  concern  for  the  future.  Mark,  I  do 
not  say  knowledge  of  the  future.  God  alone  has  that. 

An  intelligent  concern  for  the  future  distinguishes 

2  Belonging  to  a  race. 


Man.  19 

man  from  the  brute  and  furnishes  the  basis  for 
civilization. 

6.  Man  is  the  only  consciously  intelligent  denizen 
of  this  world.  (Huxley.) 

Other  animals  make  music,  but  man  alone  makes 
musical  notation  and  musical  instruments. 

"We  might  almost  define  man  as  a  being  who 
ornaments  himself;  and  certainly  here  is  a  difference 
separating  him  from  the  animals."  (  Quatref ages. ) 

"Man  has  his  own  attributes — faculties  that  belong 
exclusively  to  him — morality  and  religion.  Well, 
these  exclusively  human  facultks  seem  admirably  to 
complete  this  exceptional  being.  It  is  these  that 
ennoble  him,  and  justify  the  incontestable  empire  that 
he  claims  over  the  globe;  for  it  is  these  which,  along 
with  the  sentiment  of  punishment,  give  birth  to  the 
idea  of  duty,  the  thought  of  responsibility. 

"He  is  distinguished  from  all  animals  by  these  two 
fundamental  characters  which  pertain  only  to  him. 
He  is  the  only  one  among  organized  and  living  beings 
who  has  the  abstract  sentiment  of  good  and  evil;  in 
him  alone,  consequently,  exists  moral  sense. 

"Man  everywhere,  however  savage  he  may  be, 
shows  some  signs  of  morality  and  of  religion  that  we 
never  find  among  animals." 

Man  is  always  and  everywhere  the  supreme  occu 
pant  of  his  environment. 

"The  more  we  study,  the  better  we  know  that  all 
over  the  surface  of  the  globe  man  surmounts  every 
difficulty,  so  long  as  he  wars  against  nature.  If  he 
is  arrested,  it  is  when  he  encounters  man.  In  brief, 
man  alone  can  arrest  man." 

Quatrefages,  the  great  naturalist,  after  showing 
how  the  different  varieties  of  turkeys  arose  from  one 
stock  and  how  the  rabbit  did  also,  says :  "Now,  man, 
who  has  progressed  upon  the  earth  a  much  longer 


20  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

time  than  the  turkey  or  the  rabbit,  who  has  been  upon 
the  globe  for  thousands  of  years,  living  under  the  most 
diverse,  the  most  opposite  conditions,  multiplying 
further  the  causes  of  modification  by  his  manners,  his 
habits,  his  kind  of  life,  by  the  more  or  less  care  he 
takes  of  himself — man,  I  say,  is  certainly  found  in  con 
ditions  of  variation  much  more  marked  than  those 
which  have  been  encountered  by  the  animals  we  have 
cited.  It  is  not,  then,  surprising  that  men,  from  one 
group  to  another,  present  differences  of  which  we  here 
see  the  specimens.  If  there  is  anything  in  them  to 
astonish  us,  it  is  that  these  differences  are  not  more 
considerable." 

There  are,  as  we  have  said,  distinctively  human 
traits  possessed  by  man  and  by  man  only.  That  all 
men,  however  low,  possess  these  traits  and  no  animals, 
however  high,  possess  them,  is  proof  positive  of  the 
biological  unity  of  man. 

All  the  facts  of  science  support  this  proposition. 

"We  are  accustomed  to  say  that  the  essential  char 
acteristic  of  the  mental  processes  of  man  is  the  power 
of  reasoning.  While  animals  as  well  as  man  may  per 
form  actions  suited  to  an  end,  based  on  memory  of 
results  of  previous  actions,  and  suitable  selection  of 
actions  fitting  a  certain  purpose,  we  have  no  evidence 
whatever  that  would  show  that  the  abstract  concepts 
accompanying  the  action  can  be  isolated  by  animals, 
while  all  groups  of  men,  from  the  most  primitive  to 
the  most  highly  developed,  possess  this  faculty." 

The  Negro  possesses  all  of  these  traits  and  must, 
therefore,  be  human. 

"Observation  and  experiment  alone,  applied  to  the 
animal  and  vegetable  kingdom, — science,  in  a  word, — 
leads  us  logically  to  this  conclusion:  there  exists  but 
one  species  of  man."3 

3  Quatrefages. 


Man,  21 

There  is  an  impassable  gulf  between  the  lowest 
man  and  the  highest  ape.  The  missing  link  is  an  irri- 
descent  dream ;  and  innate  racial  superiority  is  a  base 
less,  egotistical  fiction. 

Science  is  the  enemy  of  prejudice.  Knowledge  dis 
pels  superstition.  The  sunlight  of  investigation 
destroys  the  intellectual  ghosts  that  walk  in  the  night 
of  ignorance. 

Anatomy  demolished  the  numerical  superiority  of 
woman's  ribs,  and  physiology  undermined  the  social 
prestige  of  "blue"  blood.  History  shows  civilization 
to  be  an  evolution,  and  innate  racial  superiority  an 
unjustifiable  egotism  common  to  the  children  of  men. 
Ethnology  and  religion  are  alike  in  this,  that  those 
who  hold  to  the  partiality  of  nature  or  deity  believe 
theirs  the  favored  class.  I  never  knew  a  foreordina- 
tionist  in  religion  that  did  not  count  himself  one  of 
the  elect;  nor  an  advocate  of  racial  superiority  that 
did  not  think  his  the  superior  race.  Racial  achieve 
ment  means  racial  opportunity.  Science  knows  no 
innately  superior  race. 


"Our  lives  are  songs ;  God  writes  the  words, 

And  we  set  them  to  music  at  pleasure. 
The  song  grows  glad  or  sweet  or  sad, 
As  we  choose  to  fashion  the  measure." 

"It  is  only  the  thorough  application  of  the  gospel 
of  love  and  of  common  sense  that  can  place  each  race 
in  its  proper  attitude  to  the  other." 

"Those  ministers  who  preached  and  labored  regu 
larly  for  the  Negroes  found  it  a  blessed  work,  and 
they  became  deeply  attached  to  their  colored  con 
gregations." — REV.  JAMES  H.  MCNEILLY,  D.D., 
"Religion  and  Slavery." 


(22) 


CHAPTER  II. 

DOMINATING  FORCES. 

WHAT  we  are  physically,  morally,  and  intellect 
ually  is  the  result  of  heredity  and  environment.  These 
forces  complement  and  overlap  each  other,  but  at  times 
are  quite  antagonistic. 

Heredity  is  that  biological  law  by  means  of  which 
living  beings  tend  to  repeat  themselves  in  their 
descendants.  Environment  means  literally  that  which 
environs  or  surrounds. 

Heredity  beginning  before  birth,  continues  with 
varying  intensity  during  life.  Environment  also  acts 
continuously  throughout  life;  mediately  before  birth 
and  immediately  thereafter.  While  education  may  be 
regarded  as  a  result  of  environment,  it  is  not  entirely 
so.  Heredity  plays  a  part.  Cumulative  or  tribal  edu 
cation,  i.e.,  knowledge  common  to  the  species,  is 
hereditary.  "A  beaver  reared  in  captivity  away  from 
water  dammed  a  stream  of  water  running  across  a 
floor  from  a  leaking  bucket." 

Education  is  a  drawing-out  rather  than  a  putting- 
in  process ;  as  the  Irish  woman  said,  "I  never  yet  saw 
a  hen  that  could  hatch  out  of  an  egg  anything  different 
from  what  was  in  it  when  it  was  laid."  No  amount  of 
training  will  make  a  race  horse  out  of  a  donkey. 

Heredity  is  conservative :  "Every  tree  bears  fruit 
after  its  kind."  "Like  produces  like."  "The  thing 
that  hath  been,  it  is  that  which  shall  be ;  and  that  which 
is  done,  is  that  which  shall  be  done;  and  there  is  no 
new  thing  under  the  sun."  "Is  there  anything 
whereof  it  may  be  said,  See,  this  is  new?  It  hath 
been  already  of  old  time,  which  was  before."  If 
heredity  were  unopposed,  progress  would  be  im 
possible. 

(23) 


24  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

Environment  is  educative,  evolutionary,  and  pro 
gressive.  The  story  of  human  development  is  repeated 
in  the  life  of  every  individual  adult,  who  has  evolved 
from  a  single  protoplasmic  cell  (monad)  to  the 
myriad-celled  microcosm,  man.  Tis  a  wonderful 
story,  the  creation  of  man : — 

"Since  God  collected  and  resumed  in  man 
The  firmaments,  the  strata,  and  the  lights, 
Fish,  fowl,  and  beasts,  and  insects, — all  their  trains 
Of  varied  life  caught  back  upon  His  arm, 
Reorganized  and  constituted  man, 
The  microcosm, — the  adding  up  of  works." 

'Tis  not  less  wonderful  because  repeated  in  every  child 
that  is  born.  "There  are  animals  representing  all  the 
phases  of  human  evolution  from  cell  to  man.  A  hog,  a 
fish,  a  man  are  scarcely  distinguishable  when  a  few 
days  evolved  from  the  egg."  But  environment  un 
opposed  would  destroy  all  stability  of  form.  As  the 
union  of  the  centripetal  and  centrifugal  forces  of 
gravity  keeps  the  stars  in  their  courses,  so  heredity 
and  environment  combine  to  keep  humanity  in  the  orb 
of  progress.  From  the  warp  of  heredity  and  the  woof 
of  environment  the  web  of  our  lives  is  woven. 

From  a  wide  philosophical  viewpoint,  then,  it  is 
nonsense  to  speak  of  a  self-made  man.  How  can  a 
man  select  his  race,  his  parents,  or  his  country,  when 
and  where  he  would  be  born?  And  upon  what  stage 
he  would  play  his  piece?  Yet,  notwithstanding  the 
conditions  are  rigidly  fixed,  we  are  permitted  within 
these  conditions  to  fashion  to  our  liking  the  play  of 
life.  It  is  this  individual  flavoring  of  life  that  gives 
us  that  intangible  thing  we  call  personality — that  in 
describable  something  that  makes  me,  me,  and  you, 
you.  It  is  an  harmonious  co-operative  blending  of  in 
dividual  personalities,  fostered  by  heredity  and  favored 


Dominating  Forces.  25 

by  environment,  that  constitutes  a  race.  Ontogeny  is 
phylogeny  in  miniature.  That  is,  the  life-history  of 
the  individual  is  a  repetition  on  a  small  scale  of  the 
life-history  of  the  race.  The  distinctiveness  of  per 
sonality  is  a  distinctiveness  of  thought  rather  than  of 
appearance;  of  mind  rather  than  of  matter.  Racial 
distinctions  are  psychical  rather  than  physical.  Com 
mon  beliefs  and  experiences  bind  men  more  closely 
than  blood.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  ties  that 
bind  comrades  in  arms,  or  through  long  and  perilous 
association  of  any  kind,  are  stronger  than  ties  of  blood. 
As  with  individuals,  so  with  races;  similarity  of 
thought  may  bring  unity  of  effort. 

These  are  well-established  scientific  facts  univer 
sally  accepted  by  modern  thinkers.  The  relative  im 
portance  of  heredity  and  environment  is  the  only  un 
settled  point.  Around  this  point  gather  some  of  the 
most  acrimonious  phases  of  the  Negro  question.  The 
favorite  anti-Negro  arguments  are  built  up  after  the 
following  manner : — 

(a)  A  lurid  description  of  the  most  degraded  and 
backward  portions  of  Africa. 

(fr)  Historic  argument  to  show  these  people  have 
always  been  so. 

(c)  These  man-eating  savages  were  the  ancestors 
of  the  American  Negro. 

(d)  A  people  are  like  their  ancestry,  therefore  the 
Afro- American  of  today  is  a  savage.    No  savage  is  fit 
for   citizenship   in   a    republic,    therefore    "the    war 
amendments  to  the  Constitution  were  a  huge  blunder," 
etc. 

They,  usually  end  by  triumphantly  quoting  Jere 
miah's  famous  question,  "Can  the  Ethiopian  change 
his  skin,  or  the  leopard  his  spots?"  forgetting  that 
this  interrogation  is  but  the  vivid  imagery  of  .oriental 
ism,  and  no  more  comprehends  the  alpha  and  omega 


26  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

of  biology  than  the  "everlasting  hills"  expresses  the 
demonstrated  principles  of  geology. 

That  anyone  boasting  of  his  knowledge  of  organic 
evolution1, should  reject  the  chronology  of  Usher,  dis 
miss  with  a  sneer  the  astronomy  of  Joshua,  and  accept 
as  a  finality  the  biology  of  Jeremiah,  is  a  manifestation 
of  the  Jim-crow  logic  used  by  those  who  settle  by  their 
own  word  "ultimately  and  fundamentally"2  the  Negro 
question  in  America.  There  is  no  ineffaceable  differ 
entiation  between  the  African  and  Caucasian,  as  will 
be  fully  demonstrated  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

"That  civilization  is  but  restrained  savagery  may 
perhaps  be  conceded ;  but  if  the  restraint  has  grown  to 
be  the  ever-dominant  impulse,  then  has  the  savage 
been  slain."  Three  well-established  facts  show  the 
Afro-American  has  met  these  conditions  and  has  be 
come  in  reality  a  civilized  man : — 

1.  Americo-Liberians  have  not  returned  to  Afri 
can  savagery. 

2.  Afro- Americans  resident  in  the  United  States  of 
America  have  ( shown  no  desire  to  return  to  the  asso 
ciation  of  their  savage  ancestry.    This  is  a  virtue  and 
not  a  vice,  as  some  anti-Negro  writers1  claim. 

3.  The  Negro  has  never  shown  any  desire  to  re 
turn  to  slavery.3 

"Progress  the  Negro  has  made,  unquestionably,  in 
some  directions;  in  some  places;  perhaps,  even « when 
we  have  regard  to  his  whole  race  in  the  United  States. 
He  is  no  longer  a  slave,  and  his  emancipation  has  up 
lifted  him  in  heart  and  mind  in  some  degree  above  the 
low  plane  of  his  former  estate.  Freedom  has  brought 
its  responsibilities  and  cares  and  .pains,  but  these  he 
accepts  without  a  murmur,  in  consideration  of  the 
blessed  privilege  of  directing  his  own  ways  and  call 
ing  no  man  'Master/  He  has  justified  his  deliver- 

1  Shufeldt.  2  Archer.  3  See  page  286. 


Dominating  Forces. 


27 


ance  even  in  the  eyes  of  his  former  owner,  by  showing 
that  he  appreciates  his  liberty  and  loves  it  with  all  his 
soul.4  There  has  been  no  sighing  on  his  part  for  the 
fleshpots  of  slavery,  even  when  he  starved  in  sight  of 
them.  The  husks  that  have  been  his  portion  but  too 
often  since  he  began,  unaided,  to  provide  for  his  own 
wants,  are  sweeter  to  the  humblest,  most  ignorant  of 
his  race  than  all  the  dainties  that  fell  to  his  lot  from 
the  kindest  master's  table.5  Ask  him,  and  he  will  tell 
you  that  he  is  not  infrequently  in  sore  straits,  and 
knows  not  in  the  morning  where  his  dinner,  or  eke 
his  breakfast,  will  come  from,  if  it  shall  come  at  all. 
But  he  feels  that  he  is  free — 'free  till  he  is  fool/  is 
his  own  expressive  language — and  he  would  not 
change  places  with  his  former  self  for  any  price  that 


4  This  feeling  is  shown  by  the  words  of  a  Negro  religious  folk-song 
which  was  often  sung  in  immediate  post-bellum  days  with  the  solem 
nity  of  a  Jewish  Passover.  Incidentally  it  throws  a  side-light  upon  the 
"humanity"  of  our  late  unlamented  institution  whose  spirit  and  motives 
still  survive  under  the  name  of  "Segregation" : — 

"MANY  THOUSAND  Go. 


No  more  peck  o'  corn  for  me, 
No  more,  no  more ; 

No  more  peck  o'  corn  for  me, 
Many  tousand  go. 

No  more  driver's  lash  for  me, 
No  more,  etc. 

No  more  pint  o'  salt  for  me, 
No  more,  etc. 


No  more  hundred  lash  for  me, 
No  more,  etc. 

No  more  mistress'  call  for  me, 
No  more,  etc. 

No  more  auction-block  for  me, 
No  more,  no  more ; 

No  more  auction-block  for  me, 
Many  tousand  go." 


5  Dr.  B.  T.  Washington  aptly  illustrates  this  deep  racial  feeling  by 
an  amusing  incident.  A  Northern  white  man  visiting  Alabama  saw  an 
old  colored  man  seeking  work.  His  clothing  and  general  appearance 
gave  every  evidence  of  deepest  poverty.  The  visitor  was  interested  and 
began  questioning  the  old  man,  who  freely  admitted  that  he  was  having 
a  hard  time.  Following  up  this  admission,  the  visitor  asked  him  of 
slavery  days.  Again  the  old  man  was  perfectly  frank.  He  admitted 
having  had  an  easy  time  in  slavery.  He  had  had  a  kind  and  indulgent 
master  who  cared  well  for  his  slaves,  neither  over-working  them  nor 
abusing  them.  The  visitor,  who  was  a  disciple  of  racial  inequality,  saw 
his  chance  to  gather  some  valuable  testimony.  "You  were  better  off  in 
slavery,  then,  than  you  are  in  freedom,"  he  said,  soothingly,  to  the  old 
man.  "No,  sir!  no,  siree,"  came  the  quick  and  emphatic  response, — 
"There  is  a  looseness  about  dis  freedom  dat  naturely  makes  a  man 
happy,"  said  the  old  man  as  he  hobbled  off. 


28  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

could  be  offered  him.  And  he  is  free,  in  so  far  as  his 
intelligence  enables  him  to  assert  his  liberty.  Free 
to  come  and  go ;  to  work  or  play ;  to  live  or  die ;  as  he 
pleases,  or  as  may  befall  him."6 

In  the  illiterate  and  the  untrained  the  hereditary 
impulses  readily  predominate  over  environmental  ac 
quisitions.  Training  and  environment  combined  can, 
however,  not  only  reverse  this,  but  can  create  new 
traits  and  tendencies  that  may  become  hereditary.7 
This  is  one  of  the  basic  facts  in  the  civilization  of  man 
and  the  domestication  of  animals.  In  this  principle 
lies  the  hope  of  the  permanency  of  human  progress. 

The  power  of  conservation  can,  and  usually  does, 
exist  entirely  independent  of  the  faculty  of  creation  or 
invention.  Practically  all  the  contrivances  that  bless 
and  convenience  our  modern  homes  are  the  inventions 
of  men;  yet  women  are  peculiarly  adapted  to  their 
preservation.  A  man's  right  to  a  dinner  and  his 
capacity  to  enjoy  it  are  in  no  wise  necessarily  con 
nected  with  his  ability  to  cook.  Only  an  infinitesimal 
proportion  of  the  people  that  ride  on  railroads  or 
steamships  know  anything  of  their  invention  or  con 
struction.  America  was  the  discovery  of  but  one 
European,  and  he  was  under  a  flag  that  has  disap 
peared  from  the  Western  Hemisphere.  Man's  right 
to  life  does  not  rest  upon  his  ability  to  create  life,  for 
no  man  has  that  ability.  His  right  to  life  depends 
upon  his  ability  to  conserve,  to  serve,  and  to  utilize  it. 
So  with  the  atmosphere.  So  with  the  telephone  and 
all  the  blessings  of  civilization.  Who  invented  them 
is  of  no  moment  in  the  adjudication. 

The  origin  of  civilisation  is  no  legitimate  part  of 


6  "An  Appeal  to  Pharaoh." 

7  The  experiments  of  Kammerer  as  well  as  those  of  Tower  seem 
to  have  furnished  proof  that  external  conditions  can  cause  hereditary 
changes  in  animals.      (Loeb,  "The   Mechanistic  Conception  of  Life," 
Jacques  Loeb,  M.D.,  Ph.D.,  Sc.D.,  University  of  Chicago  Press,  1912.) 


Dominating  Forces.  29 

the  Race  question  in  America.8  Neither  is  the  rela 
tive  culture  attained  by  the  European  and  African 
ancestry  a  proper  factor  in  the  discussion.  Let  us 
grant,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  the  absurd  and  un 
tenable  anti-Negro  contention  that  modern  civilization 
is  the  product  of  European  genius  instead  of  the  at 
tainment  of  mankind — that  it  is  the  peculiar  possession 
of  the  white  man  instead  of  the  achievement  of  who 
soever  can  and  will  among  men. 

Let  us  grant  all  this, — nay,  more.  Let  us  grant 
that  the  European  has  tried  the  experiment  of  de 
mocracy  and  that  the  African  has  scarcely  dreamed 
of  it;  yet  this  fact  remains, — the  Afro- American's 
right  to  full  citizenship  in  America  depends  not  upon 
the  state  of  culture  of  his  African  ancestry  nor  upon 
how  long  he  has  been  removed  from  that  state;  but 
upon  this  fact :  Is  he  now  prepared  to  exercise  properly 
the  functions  of  American  citizenship? 

"The  change  from  primitive  to  civilized  society 
includes  a  lessening  of  the  number  of,  the  emotional 
associations,  and  an  improvement  of  the  traditional 
material  that  enters  into  our  habitual  mental  opera 
tions."9  In  other  words,  the  question  is  not  what  is 
the  Negro's  ancestry,  but  what  are  his  acquirements. 
Has  the  change  in  his  emotional  association  and  tra 
ditional  material  taken  place? 

Before  answering  this  question,  it  may  be  profit- 

8  Even  on  this  ground,  the  facts  favor  the  colored  man.     One  of 
the  first  great  steps,  if  not  the  very  first,  in  our  civilization  was  the 
use   of   iron.     This  knowledge   was  born   in   Africa.     "The  African 
Negroes  originated  the  art  of  smelting  iron  from  the  ore,  and  trans 
mitted  this  art  until  it  finally  reached  the  ancestors  of  our  civilization 
and  made  possible  this  age  of  steel,  according  to  the  theory  of  some 
of  the  greatest  scientific  students,  among  whom  we  may  mention  Pro 
fessor  von  Luschau  and  Dr.  Schweinfurth."     "There  can  hardly  be  a 
question  as  to  the  negroid  character  of  the  Egyptians.     Accordingly 
it  must  be  conceded  that  the  Negro  race  made  important  contributions 
— perhaps  the  most  important  of  all — to  early  civilization.     .     .     .    The 
study  of  geometry,  the  chief  basis  of  modern  technology,  came  out  of 
Egypt."— The  New  Republic,  page  161,  Sept.  11,  1915. 

9  Boas. 


30  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

able  to  examine  the  methods  of  those  who  would  ex 
clude  the  Afro- American  from  the  blessings  of  Ameri 
can  civilization  and  modern  democracy. 

The  tendency  of  even  the  most  catholic  and  con 
servative  men  to  "see  red"  on  the  Negro  question  is 
well  illustrated  in  that  excellent  book,  "The  Present 
South,"  by  Mr.  E.  G.  Murphy,  of  Alabama.  He  says 
on  page  271,  "The  possibility  of  racial  fusion  is  not 
now  repugnant  to  the  instinct  of  the  average  Negro." 
This,  with  its  context,  is  a  restatement  of  the  bugbear 
of  social  equality  and  miscegenation ;  though  he  is  kind 
enough  to  admit,  "A  number  of  the  wisest  leaders  of 
the  Negro  race  are  seeking  to  develop  a  deeper  sense 
of  race  pride."  That  is  to  say,  the  bulk  of  the  race  is 
seeking  to  lose  itself  in  the  white  race ;  albeit  over  the 
protest  of  "A  number  of  the  wisest  leaders."  That  the 
facts  do  not  warrant  such  a  generalization,  the  follow 
ing  quotations  from  the  later  pages  of  the  same  work 
show  very  plainly.  From  a  note  at  the  bottom  of  page 
276,  I  extract  the  following:  "In  the  city  of  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  for  example,  in  a  population  of  a  half- 
million  inhabitants,  including  twelve  thousand  Ne 
groes,  there  is  practically  no  intermarriage  of  the 
races.  The  instances  that  do  occur  are  usually  confined 
to  the  lower  elements  of  both  races  and  possess  no  seri 
ous  social  significance.  Such  couples  are  usually  ab 
sorbed  by  the  Negro  race,  although  if  they  belong  to 
the  more  educated  classes  they  enter  into  natural  rela 
tionship  with  neither  race."  And  on  page  331  the 
following:  "The  wisest  men  among  the  colored  people 
of  the  Southern  States  of  America  do  not  desire  the 
intermarriage  of  their  race  with  the  whites.  They 
prefer  to  develop  it  as  a  separate  people,  on  its  own 
lines,  though  of  course  with  the  help  of  the  whites. 
The  Negro  race  in  America  is  not  wanting  in  intelli 
gence.  It  is  fond  of  learning.  It  has  already  made  a 


Dominating  Forces.  31 

considerable  advance.  It  will  cultivate  self-respect 
better  by  standing  on  its  own  feet  than  by  seeking 
blood-alliances  with  whites,  who  would  usually  be  of 
the  meaner  sort."10 

These  words  are  not  all  the  words  of  Mr.  Murphy, 
but  are  quoted  with  approval  by  him  to  substantiate 
another  proposition.  On  any  other  subject,  a  writer 
of  the  intelligence  of  Mr.  Murphy  would  see  that  these 
citations  contradict  his  previous  assertions.  A  thing 
may  be  white  at  one  time  and  black  at  another,  but  it 
cannot  be  white  and  black  at  the  same  time;  neither 
can  a  statement  be  both  true  and  false  at  the  same 
time.  It  must  be  one  or  the  other. 

It  is  not  often  that  so  catholic  and  able  a  thinker 
as  Mr.  Murphy  falls  into  such  a  grievous  and  mis 
chievous  error.  Thoughtful  Negroes  are  opposed  to 
racial  fusion  because  it  would  involve  the  degradation 
of  colored  women.  While  colored  men  might  seek  to 
marry  white  women,  white  men  would  seek  to  prosti 
tute  colored  women.  No  race  can  reach  respectability 
through  the  degradation  of  its  women.  The  Negroes 
know  this  and  the  resentment  of  the  colored  people 
against  Frederick  Douglass  ought  to  acquit  the  race 
of  the  charge  Mr.  Murphy  prefers. 

The  fight  of  the  colored  people  against  segregation 
is  not  a  fight  against  separation,  but  a  fight  against 
injustice.  Segregation  by  law  is  a  badge  of  inferior 
ity.  Segregation  by  choice  is-  natural ;  "consciousness 
of  kind"  is  just  as  strong  in  the  colored  people  as 
among  the  whites.  It  is  difficult  to  get  evidence  on 
this  subject.  The  editor  of  the  Southern  Workman 
offers  the  following  evidence  and  comment: — 

"One  interesting  and  significant  bit  of  evidence  is 
to  be  found  in  the  public-school  situation  of  Cincinnati. 
The  State  of  Ohio  prohibits  by  statute  the  compulsory 

10  Murphy,  "The  Present  South." 


American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

separation  of  races  in  the  public  schools.  Cincinnati 
has  a  colored  population  of  nearly  20,000,  and  every 
colored  child  is  as  free  as  any  white  child  to  attend 
any  public  school  in  the  city.  There  are,  however, 
two  colored  schools  which  were  established  in  response 
to  the  earnest  request  of  the  colored  people  themselves. 
These  schools  are  full.  Practically  all  the  colored 
children  who  can  do  so  attend  them  in  preference  to 
white  schools,  many  even  paying  car-fare  or  -walking 
long  distances.  It  is  clear  that,  at  least  in  Cincinnati, 
the  colored  people  prefer  to  have  their  children  in 
colored  schools,  provided  the  schools  are  as  good  as 
those  which  the  white  children  enjoy.  In  this  city  the 
equality  of  opportunity  is  complete.  The  Douglass 
School,  for  example,  is  a  thoroughly  modern,  well- 
equipped  building.  It  is  even  beautiful,  and  it  sug 
gests  order  and  refinement  in  every  part.  The  teach 
ers,  too,  are  well  trained  for  their  work,  the  majority 
of  them  having  come  ,up  through  the  public  schools 
and  been  graduated  from  the  University. 

"One  other  curious  fact  may  be  cited  to  show  that 
the  case  of  Cincinnati  is  not  unique.  Cincinnati  has  no 
separate  colored  high  school.  St.  Louis,  on  the  other 
hand,  provides  a  separate  high  school  for  the  colored 
people,  in  every  way  equal  to  the  white  high  school, 
with  the  result  that  there  are  sixteen  times  as  many 
colored  students  in  the  St.  Louis  high  school  in  propor 
tion  to  the  population  as  there  are  in  the  mixed  high 
schools  of  Cincinnati.  The  colored  people  of  the  latter 
city  are  awake  to  this  situation  and  are  looking  for 
ward  to  the  time  when  the  Board  of  Education  shall 
provide  a  separate  high  school  for  their  children. 

"Without  legislation  there  has  been  going  on 
slowly  but  steadily  for  fifty  years  a  residential  segre 
gation  of  races  in  this  country.  In  country  and  city 
alike  the  two  races  are  to  be  found  in  groups  which 


Dominating  Forces.  33 

are  becoming  more  and  more  well  denned.  Whether 
this  separation  is  wise  or  unwise,  it  seems  inevitable, 
being  due  to  some  cause  deep-seated  in  human  nature. 
If  it  is  inevitable,  it  is  the  height  of  ^unwisdom  to 
attempt  to  hasten  it  by  means  that  can  only  create  in 
the  hearts  of  those  segregated  feelings  of  resentment 
and  bitterness.  Segregation  will  not  prove  a  cure  for 
misunderstandings  due  to  the  proximity  of  unlike 
groups;  it  will  at  most  only  change  the  character  of 
those  misunderstandings,  and  it  is  by  no  means  cer 
tain  that  the  new  problems  will  be  any  easier  to  solve 
than  the  old  ones.  Where  individuals  of  different 
groups — whether  the  differences  be  racial,  religious, 
or  social — are  in  constant  daily  contact  and  are 
mutually  dependent,  misunderstandings  are  likely  to 
adjust  themselves ;  but  where  separation  is  more  com 
plete,  suspicion  has  a  rich  soil  in  which  to  grow,  and 
suspicion,  when  it  has  matured,  produces  a  fruit  of 
whose  quality  history  affords  too  many  unpleasant  ex 
amples.  The  relations  which  shall  exist  between  the 
blacks  and  the  whites  a  generation  hence  are  being  de 
termined  today.  It  is  unfortunate  that  these  relations 
should  become  needlessly  strained,  simply  because 
those  who  have  the  power  are  under  the  spell  of  that 
great  political  superstition  which  leads  men  to  act  as 
though  legislation  were  the  proper  remedy  for  all  ills 
of  the  social  body. 

"Fairness,  patience,  and  good-will  are  more  potent 
than  statutes.  A  realization  that  we  are  all  members 
of  one  body,  and  that  if  one  member  suffers  all  the 
members  suffer  with  it,  is  the  only  sound  basis  from 
which  race  problems  or  any  other  social  problems  can 
proceed."  (Southern  Workman.) 

Mr.  Archer  ("Through  Afro- America")  gives 
countenance,  if  not  actual  support,  to  the  doctrine  that 
the  mixed  bloods  are  inferior  to  both  parent  stocks, 


34  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

equalling  neither  the  white  nor  the  black.  Yet  he  goes 
on  to  show  that  all  the  progress  of  the  race  in  America 
has  been  made  by  and  under  the  leadership  of  the 
mixed  elements.  I  have  shown  in  another  chapter  that 
Dr.  Bean  bases  a  sweeping  generalization  against  the 
race  upon  a  statement  of  facts  which  at  best  is  less 
than  40  per  cent.  true.  If  preconception  and  prejudice 
can  thus  vitiate  the  reasoning  of  men  of  culture  who 
are  striving  to  be  fair,  what  are  we  to  expect  from 
the  ambitious,  the  interested,  the  hungerers  after 
notoriety, — what,  I  say,  are  we  to  expect  from  this 
class  upon  whom  the  canons  of  truth  lay  little  author 
ity  and  to  whom  altruism  is  an  unknown  feeling? 
And  yet,  it  is  from  such  witnesses  that  most  of  the 
anti-Negro  testimony  comes. 

Leaving  the  consideration  of  the  character  of  the 
witnesses -for  another  chapter,  let  us  examine  some  of 
their  methods  and  analyze  some  of  their  testimony. 

I. 

Mr.  Edgar  G.  Murphy  justly  complains  that  so 
many  people,  in  discussing  national  problems,  assume 
that  the  North  is  the  nation;  yet,  most  white  people 
approach  the  race  question  in  just  this  spirit.  They 
never  include  the  Negro  when  they  speak  of  "the 
American  people."11  It  is  only  such  a  biased  mental 
attitude  that  could  make  a  man  like  Mr.  Wm.  Archer 
put  up  such  an  argument  as  he  does  about  the  Negro 
being  "ultimately  and  fundamentally"  inferior  to  the 
white  man,  and  therefore  should  not  be  permitted  to 
occupy  territories  that  "are  fitted  by  their  climate  and 
resources  to  be  not  only  a  white  man's  land,  but  one 

11  So  prevalent  is  this  error  that  even  colored  men  of  culture  are 
guilty.  On  page  50  of  "Out  of  the  House  of  Bondage,"  Prof.  Kelly 
Miller  says :  "The  Negro  race  in  this  country  must  become  one  with 
itself  before  it  can  become  one  with  the  American  people." 


Dominating  Forces.  35 

of  the  greatest  white  men's  lands  in  the  world."12 
This  is  the  "necessity"  argument  with  a  vengeance! 
No  man  has  any  right  to  anything  that  is  suitable  to 
my  use;  a  buccaneering  logic  that  would  justify  the 
meanest  scoundrel  that  ever  scuttled  a  ship  or  cut  a 
throat.  Many  of  the  irreducible  factors  of  our  race 
problem  are  produced  by  that  mental  attitude  that 
insists  that  nine-tenths  of  the  people  are  the  whole 
people.  A  part  is  not  the  whole.  The  idea  behind 
segregation  is  that  the  Negro  is  not  a  part  of  the 
American  people. 

II. 

Universal  human  frailties  are  paraded  as  peculiar 
Negro  vices : — 

"As  a  rule  the  youth  of  the  American  Negro  are 
liars  by  nature.  They  are  all  predisposed  to  gambling 
and  the  majority  of  them  will  steal."  This  is  true,  but 
it  is  also  true  of  nine-hundred  and  ninety-nine  thous 
and,  nine-hundred  and  ninety-nine  of  every  million 
children  born  into  the  world  of  whatever  color  or  race. 
Lying  and  stealing  are  common  animal  traits  to  which 
man  is  heir.  You  have  to  teach  men  to  be  honest  and 
to  tell  the  truth.  They  are  all  born  liars.  Lying  is  a 
phase  of  nature's  deceptions  which  moral  training 
eradicates  from  the  conduct  as  cultivation  removes 
weeds  from  the  soil. 

"The  Negro  has  no  conception  of  the  monogamic 
regime."  In  this  he  is  much  like  the  white  man,  who 
certainly  has  very  little  knowledge  of  its  practice. 
Prostitution  or  polygamy  seems  to  obtain  in  every 
country  and  among  all  peoples.  The  sex  relation  is 
one  of  the  unsolved  problems  of  civilization. 

A  certain  mendacity  born  of  fanaticism  seems  to 

12  Archer,  "Through  Afro-America." 


36  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

obsess  many  that  essay  to  discuss  the  Negro  question. 
They  either  deliberately  falsify  or  arrange  the  truth 
in  such  a  way  as  to  deceive.  I  will  give  an  example 
of  each  method:  "The  higher  sentimental  qualities  of 
love  are  totally  lacking  in  Negroes  of  both  sexes  in 
this  country  today."  "A  short  and  ugly  word"  of  four 
letters  is  the  only  proper  answer  to  such  an  assertion. 
I  will,  however,  dignify  it  by  a  reply.  I  submit  the 
following  lines  from  a  full-blooded  American  Negro 
as  an  answer : — 

SONG. 

"My  heart  to  thy  heart, 

My  hand  to  thine; 

My  lips  to  thy  lips, 

Kisses  are  wine 

Brewed  for  the  lover  in  sunshine  and  shade ; 
Let  me  drink  deep,  then,  my  African  maid. 

Lily  to  lily, 

Rose  unto  rose; 

My  love  to  thy  love 

Tenderly  grows. 

Rend  not  the  oak  and  the  ivy  in  twain, 
Nor  the  swart  maid  from  her  swarthier  swain." 
PAUL  L.  DUNBAR,  "Lyrics  of  Lowly  Life." 

III. 

A  recent  anti-Negro  publication13  illustrates  the 
inferiority  argument  by  a  picture  of  a  Negro  lad  be 
tween  two  monkeys.  The  pictures  are  so  drawn  as  to 
accentuate  the  natural  resemblances.  The  same  thing 
could  be  done  with  a  white  boy  of  similar  age.  The 
white  resembles  the  ape  in  features  as  much  as  the 
colored  boy.  While  the  colored  boy's  color  is  nearer 
the  monkey's  than  the  white  boy's,  the  white  boy's  hair 

13  Shufeldt,  "America's  Greatest  Problem." 


Dominating  Forces.  37 

is  more  like  the  monkey's  than  the  colored  boy's.  As 
an  anthropological  argument  for  Negro  inferiority  the 
picture  rates  with  the  words  quoted  above.  There  is 
little  difference  in  the  features  of  children  of  different 
races,  whatever  the  difference  in  adults.  As  far  as 
features  are  concerned,  the  picture  on  the  opposite 
page  might  be  either  Caucasian  or  Negro,  while  it  is 
neither.  Some  years  ago  I  knew  a  fine  old  Scotchman 
who  had  a  terrier  to  which  he  was  very  much 
attached.  They  were  often  seen  together.  An  artistic 
wag  drew  their  pictures  so  that  they  looked  much  more 
alike  than  the  boy  and  the  monkeys  above  referred  to. 

IV. 

They  interpret  facts  in  contradictory  ways  to  make 
them  apply  against  the  Negro.  Space  will  permit  only 
a  few  illustrations : — 

(a)  In  a  comparative  racial  study,  the  white  people 
are  judged  from  the  top  and  the  Negro  from  the 
bottom. 

(&)  Punishment  for  adultery  is  usually  cited  as 
being  one  of  the  virtues  of  primitive  people.  Yet 
the  following  incident  is  elaborated  to  show  Negro 
cruelty :  "Our  entrance  interrupted  a  cruel  execution. 
A  'sea-boy/  returning  from  a  two  years'  absence, 
had  found  his  wife  living  with  another  man.  He  had 
demanded  a  palaver  and  the  man  had  been  condemned. 
The  'sea-boy'  was  to  do  the  job.  It  was  the  law  of 
the  bush.  The  cold  chills  chased  one  another  up  and 
down  my  spine  when  I  saw  the  vindictive  manner  in 
which  the  injured  husband  went  about  his  task.  He 
crossed  the  culprit's  ankles  and  tied  them  with  rattan, 
drawing  the  knot  until  the  rattan  cut  into  the  flesh; 
the  hands  were  tied  behind  the  back  in  the  same  way. 
Then  he  left  the  man  on  the  ground,  disappearing  into 


38  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

his  hut,  and  returning  with  an  armful  of  tough  withes 
and  a  rawhide  whip.  Not  until  then  did  we  realize 
that  the  culprit  was  to  be  flogged  to  death/'14 

Compare  that  with  the  following  about  the  Ger 
mans.  Remember  that  the  German  customs  are  cited 
to  show  German  devotion  to  female  chastity  and  the 
Negro  custom  is  introduced  to  show  Negro  cruelty. 
The  unfairness  of  interpretation  is  evident : — 

"But  long  before  this  time  the  Germans  had  visited 
severe  punishment  upon  female  delinquents,  as  they 
had  upon  those  men  who  brought  about  the  downfall 
of  married  women.  Thus  Tacitus  in  his  'Germania' 
writes  of  the  punishment  inflicted  upon  an  adulterous 
woman :  Naked  and  with  her  hair  cut  short,  the  un 
happy  creature,  in  the  presence  of  her  relatives,  was 
driven  from  her  home  and  flogged  through  the  entire 
village  by  her  angry  husband. 

"That  the  German  continued  after  the  time  of 
Tacitus  to  preserve  inviolate  the  honor  of  his  women, 
is  seen  in  the  enactment  of  certain  laws  and  the  issu 
ance  of  decrees.  Thus,  in  the  reign  of  one  of  the 
Frank  Kings,  Dagobert  (638  A.D.),  the  law  specified 
that  the  man  who  so  much  as  touched  the  hand  of  a 
free  woman  was  to  be  fined  600  denarii  (a  dena 
rius  is  equivalent  to  about  twenty  cents),  this  fine  to 
be  doubled  if  he  touched  the  arm,  quadrupled  if  he 
took  liberties  with  the  woman's  breast,  and  this  law 
was  rigorously  enforced  even  to  the  extreme  of  cut 
ting  off  the  nose  or  ears  of  the  prisoner  unable  to  pay 
his  fine."15 

(c)  Anatomical  divergence  from  the  animal  type  is 
usually  interpreted  to  man's  advantage.  On.  this 
ground  the  Negro's  lips  go  to  his  credit  in  the  upward 
evolutionary  process.  Yet,  I  have  noticed  but  one 


14  Edgar  Allen  Forbes,  "The  Land  of  the  White  Helmet." 

15  The  Urologic  and  Cutaneous  Review,  June,  1915,  page  354. 


Dominating  Forces.  39 

ethnologist  (Boas)  with  the  fairness  to  admit  this. 
Again,  development  of  the  gluteal  muscles  is  con 
sidered  an  anatomical- peculiarity  of  man.  In  fact,  it  is 
a  common  anti-Negro  argument  to  show  the  inferior 
development  of  the  Negro  woman  in  this  region.  The 
excessive  development  of  this  region  in  Hottentot 
women  is  used  to  reinforce  the  inferiority  arguments 
against  the  Negro. 

(d)  In  medicine,  the  Negro  is  alike  blameworthy 
for  anaphylaxis  and  immunity.  If  he  is  susceptible  to 
disease  (as  tuberculosis),  he  is  a  weakling;  if  he  is  not 
susceptible  (as  hook-worm),  he  is  a  menace. 

In  morals,  the  Negro  is  guilty  of  his  own  frailties 
and  the  white  man's  short-comings.16  If  the  Negro 
violates  the  commandments  it  is  because  he  is  "in 
nately  depraved  or  by  nature  non-moral."  If  the 
white  man  is  guilty,  it  is  because  of  "the  degrading 
influence  of  contact  with  the  Negro."  In  ethics,  they 
abuse  the  Negro  for  lack  of  self-respect,  if  he  be 
humble;  if  he  is  not  humble,  they  abuse  him  for 
"bumptiousness."  But  the  saddest  and  meanest  phase 
of  it  is  the  persistent  claim  that  all  Negroes  are  prac 
tically  alike.  This  is  a  fundamental  and  serious  mat 
ter  and  needs  to  be  examined  in  detail.  (See  follow 
ing  chapter. ) 

V. 

They  accept  mere  assumptions  as  demonstrated 
truths.  It  is  a  false  assumption  that  the  white  man 
has  charge  of  the  earth,  and  must  consider,  his  advan 
tage  only  when  dealing  with  the  other  peoples.  If 

16  Take  U.  S.  Senator  B.  R.  Tillman's  explanation  of  South  Caro 
lina's  Age  of  Consent  law.  "If  you  know  anything  about  the  Negroes, 
you  know  that  very  few  of  the  women  of'  that  race  have  any  idea  of 
virtue  at  all,  and  that  must  be  the  reason  why  the  'age  of  consent'  is 
so  low.  It  is  well  understood  that  when  the  puberty  arouses  the  pas 
sions  in  the  sexes — and  those  passions  are  most  virulent — Negro  girls 
would  take  advantage  inevitably  of  white  men." 


40  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

majority  rules,  then  the  earth  belongs  to  the  colored 
people.  It  is  a  false  assumption  that  the  American 
people  are  all  white.  The  colored  man  is  just  as  much 
the  American  people  as  the  white  man.  And  is  not 
going  back  to  Africa  any  more  than  the  white  man  is 
going  back  to  Europe.  The  Negro  is  not  an  alien  in 
this  country.  He  has  been  here  as  long  as  the  white 
man  has. 

The  fundamental  error  of  most  anti-Negro  think 
ers  on  the  race  problem  is  the  unwarranted  assump 
tion  that  the  white  man  is  the  norm  of  humanity; 
mentally,  morally,  and  physically.  Anti-Negro  logic 
tries  to  fasten  upon  the  American  of  African  descent 
all  the  savagery  of  Africa  and  deny  him  all  the  past 
glories  of  the  civilizations  of  that  ancient  and  mysteri 
ous  land,  and  at  the  same  time  claiming  for  the 
white  man  of  European  descent  "the  background  of 
European  culture."  It  is  a  mere  assumption  that  the 
Negrophobe  is  the  only  one  who  has  any  knowledge 
of  the  subject  or  that  he  has  no  prejudice  against  the 
Negro.  He  always  compares  the  worst  Negroes  with 
the  best  Caucasians,  showing  malevolence  or  igno 
rance  in  violating  the  well-known  rules  of  comparison. 
The  difference  between  the  ignorant  and  vicious 
whites  and  the  ignorant  and  vicious  blacks  is  too  in 
consequential  to  carry  his  point.  Ditto,  the  educated 
and  upright.  It  is  an  unwarranted  assumption  that 
superior  attainment  means  superior  capacity  or  that 
attainment  is  always  a  measure  of  capacity. 

Another  fundamental  error  of  the  negrophobe  is 
to  assume  that  culture  is  foreign  to  the  Negro  and 
natural  or  innate  to  the  Caucasian.  But,  enough! 
The  most  of  this  anti-Negro  talk  is,  to  quote  Mr. 
Murphy,  "A  crude  frenzy  of  the  hustings  which  sel 
dom  has  sincerity  or  validity."  Finally,  there  is  a  con 
spiracy  of  silence  in  facts  creditable  to  the  race.  Why 


I 


I 


Malay  boy  of  the  Straits  Settlement. 


Dominating  Forces.  41 

should  items  like  the  following  be  ignored  or  sup 
pressed  ?    Yet  such  is  usually  done1 7 : — 

CARRIERS  HONOR  VETERAN  WORKER. 

H.  E.  BURRIS,  RECENTLY  GIVEN  SILVER  STAR, 

GUEST  AT  Y.  M.  C.  A.  BANQUET. 

Henry  E.  Burris,  first  mail-carrier  at  the  local  postoffice 
to  be  tendered  a  banquet  at  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Saturday  evening 
by  the  mail-carriers. 

Dinner  was  served  at  7  o'clock.  Christian  Koch  presided 
and  presented  Mr.  Burris  with  a  travelling  bag,  the  gift  of  the 
carriers.  The  honored  guest  responded  in  a  short  talk  ex 
tending  his  thanks  to  his  fellow-workmen. 

Assistant  Postmaster  Oliver  P.  Olsen  made  a  talk  con 
cerning  Mr.  Burris's  long  career  in  the  service  and  gave  some 
figures  relative  to  the  mail  he  had  handled  in  the  past  twenty- 
five  years.  It  is  estimated  that  over  13,000,000  pieces  of  mail 
were  delivered  by  him. 

The  spirit  of  comradeship  and  co-operation  exhibited 
among  the  men  was  commended  in  a  few  remarks  made  by  the 
postmaster,  H.  P.  Simpson.  He  spoke  of  the  value  of  faith 
fulness  in  little  as  well  as  great  things  in  life,  and  of  those 
who  adopt  this  course  of  conduct. 

An  original  poem  was  read  by  Mr.  Koch,  in  which  Mr. 
Burris  was  lauded  for  the  record  he  had  made. — Rock  Island 
Argus,  Jan.  4,  1915. 

The  witty  fling  of  Life  is  not  without  point.  Re 
ferring  to  the  inferiority  of  the  Negro,  Life  says: 
"Our  friends  down  South,  being  sure  that  the  Negroes 
are  inferior,  deny  them  advantages  and  provide  in 
ferior  schools  for  Negro  children  in  order  that  they 
will  continue  to  be  inferior  and  thus  prove  the  cor 
rectness  of  the  contention  of  the  scientist  sentimen- 


17  A  delegation  of  prominent  colored  men  called  upon  the  editor  of 
an  influential  paper  in  a  large  Southern  City  to  complain  of  the  unfair 
treatment  the  race  received  from  that  paper.  The  editor  frankly  told 
these  gentlemen :  "It  is  the  settled  policy  of  this  paper  not  to  exploit 
the  virtues  of  Negroes." 


42  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

talists  that  the  Negro  is  inferior.  After  all,  there  is 
nothing  quite  so  satisfying  as  the  feeling  that  you  have 
got  things  fixed  so  that  you  will  always  Have  an  in 
ferior  race  in  your  midst." 

The  words  of  Mr.  Murphy  are  pathetically  true: 
"Of  the  destructive  factors  in  Negro  life  the  white 
community  hears  to  the  uttermost,  hears  through  the 
press  and  the  police  court;  of  the  constructive  factors 
of  Negro  progress, — the  Negro  school,  the  saner 
Negro  church,  the  Negro  home, — the  white  com 
munity  is  in  ignorance.  Until  it  does  know  this  aspect 
of  our  Negro  problem  it  may  know  more  or  less  ac 
curately  many  things  about  the  Negro;  but  it  cannot 
know  the  Negro/'18 

I  will  close  this  discussion  of  testimony  by  a  quota 
tion  from  an  address  by  a  learned  and  fair-minded 
Southern  white  physician :  "It  is  unsafe  and  unscien 
tific  to  generalize  from  insufficient  data.  Especially 
does  this  apply  to  attempts  at  judging  a  whole  race  by 
a  few  individuals,  or  drawing  conclusions  from  the 
experience  of  any  one  man.  Many  misstatements 
have  been  made  concerning  the  prevalence  of  various 
diseases  in  the  Negro.  Some  of  these  errors  have 
remained  unchallenged,  because  they  were  made  with 
the  stamp  of  authority  upon  them,  and  no  one  ap 
peared  with  sufficient  experience  to  offset  them.  A 
noted  textbook  on  gynecology  (Gilliam),  in  discussing 
cancer  of  the  uterine  cervix,  says:  'The  Negress  is 
comparatively  immune/  Tiffany,  of  Baltimore,  has 
stated  that  'carcinoma  is  very  rare  in  the  Negro/ 
This  opinion  was  shared  by  Briggs,  of  Nashville,  and 
Yandell,  of  Louisville.  Later,  Ballock,  of  Washing 
ton,  held  that  epithelioma  is  almost  never  seen  and 
carcinoma  but  rarely/'  All  of  these  observers  believed 
that  sarcoma  was  very  much  more  frequent  in 

18  Murphy,  op.  clt. 


Dominating  Forces.  43 

the  colored  race  than  carcinoma.  On  the  contrary, 
Michael,  of  Charleston,  found  about  an  equal  number 
of  uterine  cancer  among  white  and  colored  families, 
disproving  Schroder's  statement  that  carcinoma  uteri, 
or  any  form  of  cancer,  seldom  affects  Negro  women. 
Richardson,  in  New  Orleans,  showed  figures  that  in 
dicated  that  cancer  in  the  Negro  was  not  so  rare  as 
believed  by  other  surgeons.  Corson,  of  Savannah, 
gives  his  experience  as  follows :  "From  all  I  can  learn, 
however,  cancer  is  more  common  now  than  before 
emancipation,  when  the  vital  equation  of  the  race  was 
better.  The  cases  I  meet  are  very  rapid,  especially  of 
the  cervix  uteri."  The  question  may  be  summed  up  in 
the  words  of  Matas,  of  New  Orleans,  in  whose  opinion 
I  concur :  "In  regard  to  the  malignant  neoplasms  the 
Negro  constitution  has  probably  undergone  some 
change  under  the  conditions  of  the  American  civiliza 
tion,  since  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  cancer  is  rare  in 
the  native  African,  rare  also  in  the  original  slave  pop 
ulation  of  this  country,  and  has  only  become  a  common 
disease  in  the  American  Negro  of  the  last  few  genera 
tions.  It  is  also  probable  that  the  conditions  that  are 
causing  an  increase  in  the  prevalence  of  cancer  among 
whites  are  also  acting  with  the  same  effect  upon  the 
Negroes."  That  is  to  say,  the  temperate  zone  with  its 
complex  civilization  is  responsible  for  the  fact  that  the 
colored  race,  as  it  comes  to  live  more  and  more  like 
the  white  race,  will  be  subject  to  the  same  diseases. 

In  a  similar  way  it  was  taught  for  years,  in  the 
Northern  medical  schools,  that  ovarian  cysts  prac 
tically  did  not  occur  in  Negro  women.  This  was  the 
positive  instruction  that  I  received  twenty  years  ago, 
and  so  surprised  was  I  to  find  five  cystomas  of  the 
ovary  during  my  first  year  of  surgical  practice,  that, 
following  the  lead  of  Dr.  I.  S.  Stone,  I  presented  a 
paper  on  this  subject  before  the  Tri-State  Medical 


44  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

Association  in  1900.  My  contention  was  that,  while 
these  growths  were  not  so  common  in  the  Negro  as 
some  other  tumors,  still  they  were  by  no  means  rare, 
and  that,  unless  particular  attention  be  called  to  them, 
mistakes  might  be  made  in  the  diagnosis  of  the  doubt 
ful  abdominal  enlargements.  Up  to  the  present  time, 
I  have  had  no  .reasons  to  change  these  views.  The 
opinions  of  our  distinguished  teachers  in  respect  to 
this  matter  are  untenable.  They  are  established  on 
scanty  observations. 

Appendicitis  has  been  looked  upon  as  a  rare  affec 
tion  in  the  Negro.  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  it  was 
and  is  now  more  uncommon  in  the  Negro  than  in  the 
white  race.  But,  as  is  pointed  out  in  an  article  by 
myself,  it  appears  that  this  disease  is  becoming  more 
frequent  in  the  Negroes,  and  that,  if  they  continue  to 
live  under  conditions  similar  to  the  white  people,  we 
may  expect  them  to  have  about  the  same  number  of 
inflamed  appendices.  The  situation  is  almost  identical 
with  that  of  cancer,  mentioned  above.  In  his  travels, 
Nicholas  Senn  found  neither  appendicitis  nor  cancer 
in  Africa ;  nor  did  he  observe  either  disease  in  Alaska 
at  the  most  northern  habitation  of  man.  Civilization 
again!  The  chronic  types  of  appendicitis,  with  kinks 
and  membranes,  do  not  seem  to  prevail  in  our  series. 
Perhaps  many  of  these  escape  a  diagnosis  in  the  midst 
of  more  pressing  ailments.  But,  certainly  for  the  past 
few  years  we  have  given  very  careful  attention  to 
these  conditions,  both  before  and  during  operations. 
Many  of  these  cases,  of  course,  never  get  to  the  hos 
pital  at  all. 

There  are  no  surgical  diseases  which  are  peculiar 
to  the  colored  race.  It  is  true  that  some  diseases  occur 
frequently,  while  others  are  rare.  For  example, 
fibrous  processes  of  all  sorts  are  five  times  more  com 
mon  in  the  Negro  than  in  the  white;  for  the  three 


Dominating  Forces.  45 

diseases  which,  by  common  consent,  prevail  so  largely 
as  to  be  considered  peculiar  to  the  dark-skinned  races, 
elephantiasis,  keloid,  and  fibroma  (or  myofibroma)  of 
the  uterus.  On  the  other  hand,  harelip  and  cleft 
palate  and  club-foot  are  noticeably  infrequent.  Those 
of  us  who  have  had  the  largest  opportunities  for  ob 
servation  are  least  likely  to  make  positive  assertions 
as  to  this  affection  being  very  prevalent  in  the  Negro, 
or  that  affection  being  rarely  or  never  seen.  I  have 
already  pointed  out  the  errors  in  reference  to  malig 
nant  disease,  ovarian  cyst,  and  appendicitis.  You  will 
surely  overlook  important  questions  in  diagnosis,  if 
you  once  begin  to  draw  conclusions  as  to  the  rarity  or 
frequency  of  various  diseases.  I  feel  very  strongly 
with  Professor  Matas  again,  "that  absolutely  specific 
diseases,  ethnically  speaking,  have  ceased  to  exist  in 
the  American  Negro  of  today;  that  absolute  immunity 
from  certain  diseases  does  not  exist;  and  that  he  dif 
fers  from  the  white  man  simply  in  the  relative  pre 
disposition  to,  or  immunity  from,  the  various  diseases 
that  prevail  in  this  country.  It  is  thus  demonstrated 
that  the  fundamental  nature  is  the  same  in  both  races, 
and  that  the  study  of  the  differences  must  be  based 
upon  the  action  of  the  common  factors  of  disease  upon 
the  acquired  constitution  of  the  Negro,  which,  in 
America,  must  be  regarded  as  the  sum  of  his  original 
race  distinction,  plus  the  modifications  due  to  a  new 
environment."19 


19  "A  Review  of  the  Operations  at  St.  Agnes  Hospital,  with  Remarks 
upon  Surgery  in  the  Negro,"  by  H.  A.  Royster,  A.B.,  M.D.,  F.A.C.S., 
Raleigh,  N.  C.,  Surgeon  to  Rex  Hospital,  Surgeon-in-Chief  to  St. 
Agnes  Hospital.  Read  (by  invitation)  before  the  Nat.  Med.  Assn.,  at 
Raleigh,  N.  C.,  August  26,  1914. 


"Only  a  few  days  ago  I  was  discussing  the  Negro  problem 
with  a  distinguished  physician  of  one  of  our  larger  cities  in 
Georgia,  and  I  could  not  but  take  careful  note  of  his  remark 
that  'in  our  courts  the  Negro  population  never  got  justice.' 
Whether  this  is  literally  true  or  not,  it  is  generally  true. 
Since  hearing  that  remark,  I  have  been  trying  to  think 
whether  the  Negro  gets  justice  in  any  other  line  any  more 
than  he  does  in  the  courts  of  justice,  and  I  am  about  to  con 
cede  that  the  courts  are  no  exception  in  the  matter  of  justice." 
— PROF.  J.  H.  DE  LOACH,  PH.D.,  University  of  Georgia. 

"What  we  have  said  before  in  regard  to  the  overlapping 
of  variations  among  different  races  and  types,  and  the  great 
range  of  variability,  in  each  type,  may  also  be  expressed  by 
saying  that  the  differences  between  different  types  of  man  ore, 
on  the  whole,  small  as  compared  to  the  range  of  variation  in 
each  type." — BOAS. 


(46) 


CHAPTER  III. 

SOME  VITAL  PHASES  OF  THE 
RACIAL  SITUATION. 

THE  persistent  effort  to  treat  all  colored  people 
alike  retards  the  healthful  growth  of  class  distinction 
among  us  and  lessens  the  influence  of  the  intelligent 
and  virtuous  over  the  ignorant  and  vicious.  Segrega 
tion  at  the  Capitol  means  degradation  in  the  shrievalty. 
If  a  president  condones  discrimination  the  sheriff  may 
practise  unfairness.  When  the  orderly  (?)  lynching 
of  men  guilty  of  certain  crimes,  "beyond  the  shadow 
of  a  doubt/'  is  advocated  or  condoned  by  a  supreme 
judge  of  the  nation,  the  simple  dwellers  on  the  heath 
may  gregariously  murder  anybody,  men,  women,  or 
children,  for  any  offense,  real  or  imagined.  The  one 
is  as  legitimate  as  the  other.  The  ability  to  gild  vice 
with  intellectual  graces  is  not  morality,  and  the  race  of 
the  victim  does  not  alter  the  crime. 

Variation  is  one  of  the  conditions  of  progress. 
Possibly  the  most  frequent  and  useful  form  of  its 
manifestation  in  racial  life  is  the  production  of  the 
exceptional  individual  man  or  woman.  History1 
teems  with  the  exceptional  Negro  from  Ebedmelech 
who  saved  the  prophet  to  Booker  T.  Washington  who 
built  Tuskegee.  When  the  white  man  seeks  to  treat 
all  colored  people  alike  he  is  standing  in  his  own  light 
and  barring  the  road  of  national  progress;  for  he  is 
endeavoring  to  rob  these  people  of  the  only  means  of 
preserving  racial  integrity  and  establishing  cultural 
self-sufficiency;  namely,  the  development  of  excep 
tional  individuals  for  racial  leadership.  Notwith 
standing  this  handicap,  Afro-Americans  have  pro- 

1  See  page  295. 

(47) 


48 


American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 


duced  a  surprisingly  long  list  of  men  and  women 
whose  names  are  engraven  in  the  annals  of  America. 

The  gulf  between  Linnaeus,  Humboldt,  Huxley, 
Darwin,  et  al.,  and  the  lowest  whites  is  immensely 
greater  than  any  difference  between  the  lowest  whites 
and  lowest  blacks.  The  distance  between  the  highest 
colored  man  and  the  lowest  colored  man  is  just  as 
great  as  between  the  lowest  white  man  and  the  highest 
white  man.  Colored  people  are  no  more  alike  than 
white  people.2  This  thought  can  best  be  illustrated 
diagrammatically : — 


G 


2  That  the  contrary  opinion  is  often  held  arises  from  the  difficulty 
of  discriminating  among  strange  things.  In  a  strange  place  it  is  diffi 
cult  to  tell  directions.  Streets  running  north  and  south  in  a  city  will 
remind  the  stranger  of  streets  running  east  and  west  in  his  home  town. 
He  cannot  get  his  bearings  without  assistance  unless  he  can  fix  on  some 
familiar  object,  as  the  sun.  Chinamen  all  look  alike  to  Englishmen  and 
Englishmen  all  look  alike  to  Chinamen.  The  "redskins"  all  looked 
alike  tQ  the  white  people  and  the  "pale  faces"  all  looked  alike  to  the 
Indians.  The  "crackers"  and  "rednecks"  look  as  much  alike  to  the 
colored  people,  as  the  "niggahs"  do  to  them. 

Some  years  ago  I  was  laughed  at  for  saying  in  a  medical  discussion 
that  the  color  of  the  skin  was  not  always  distinctive  in  scarlet  fever. 
In  reply,  I  invited  my  opponents  to  go  with  me.  The  invitation  was 


Afro-Americans  with  more  than  national  reputation. 


Some  Vital  Phases.  49 

Let  the  line  A-B  represent  the  lowest  state  of 
human  culture  and  capacity.  Let  the  line  C-D  repre 
sent  the  highest  state  of  human  culture  and  capacity. 
The  distance  from  A-B  to  C-D  will  represent  the 
variations  in  human  culture  and  capacity.  The  line 
E-F  will  represent  the  variations  in  the  white  and 
the  line  G-H  that  in  the  colored.  These  lines  are  of 
the  same  length;  but  G  is  below  Ef  and  F  is  above  H. 
That  is,  the  lowest  state  of  culture  and  capacity  among 
colored  people  is  beneath  the  lowest  state  of  culture 
and  capacity  among  the  whites ;  and  the  highest  state 
of  culture  and  capacity  among  whites  is  above  the 
highest  among  the  colored.  The  colored  races  pos 
sibly  have  not  produced  a  Plato,  an  Aristotle,  or  a 
Bacon,  or  a  Shakespeare.  But  the  majority  of  whites 
are  neither  at  F  nor  E,  but  /;  i.e.,  they  are  neither  at 
the  top  nor  bottom,  but  midway.  The  same  is  true  of 
the  colored.  The  majority  is  neither  at  H  nor  G, 
but  at  K. 

Now  study  the  diagram  closely.  It  is  not  very  far 
from  G  to  E,  nor  from  K  to  I,  nor  from  H  to  F;  but 
it  is  a  long  way  from  G  to  F,  not  much  farther,  how 
ever,  than  from  E  to  H. 

In  the  current  discussion  of  the  Negro  question  in 
America  (U.  S.  A.)  it  is  customary  to  dwell  upon  the 
distance  from  G  to  F,  and  to  deny  the  distance  from 
E  to  H,  and  ignore  the  spaces  between  G  and  E,  K  and 
I,  and  H  and  F.  These  writers  invariably  compare 
the  highest  whites  with  the  lowest  blacks  and  claim 
that  each  is  typical.  Why  a  recent  anti-Negro  writer 
illustrates  his  book  with  a  vis-a-vis  picture  of  Julius 
Caesar  and  the  lowest  African  savage  he  can  find ;  im- 

promptly  accepted  and  in  a  few  minutes  we  were  at  the  bedside  of  a 
coal-black  child.  Not  one  of  the  half-dozen  medical  men  had  any 
trouble  in  recognizing  the  disease  in  this  child,  and  yet  he  was  not 
scarlet  as  a  white  child  would  have  been,  but  the  disease  was  just  as 
distinctive.  Discrimination  is  a  matter  of  knowledge  and  observation. 

4 


50  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

plying,  of  course,  that  the  average  Euro-American  is 
a  Julius  Caesar  and  the  average  Afro-American  is  a 
savage.  If  it  were  only  measurably  true  there  would 
be  no  race  question  in  the  South.  White  ignorance 
is  the  most  serious  menace  in  the  race  situation;  for 
this  ignorance  is  in  power  and  hopes  to  benefit  itself, 
not  by  finding  more  light,  but  by  increasing  darkness. 
Hopes  to  decrease  white  ignorance  by  increasing  black 
ignorance. 

There  has  arisen  in  the  South  a  type  of  politician 
that  proposes  to  make  the  white  people  happy  by  mak 
ing  the  Negroes  unhappy.  They  propose  to  better  the 
poor  white  man's  condition  relatively  and  negatively 
by  worsing  the  black's  condition.  They  would  strangle 
the  welfare  of  their  country  for  power  or  pelf.  In 
stead  of  striving  to  move  forward  themselves,  they 
are  striving  to  force  the  colored  people  back.  It  is  a 
strange  and  weird  delusion  that  seems  to  have  com 
pletely  obsessed  the  majority  of  some  Southern  States, 
and  opened  the  door  to  political  preferment.  They 
expect  to  reach  heaven  for  themselves  by  raising 

h 1  for  the  Negroes.    They  hope  by  some  political 

alchemy  to  put  more  rights  in  the  Constitution  for 
themselves  by  taking  out  any  rights  the  Negro  may 
have  or  thinks  he  has  therein. 

But,  back  to  our  diagram.  All  of  the  colored  be 
tween  G  and  K  are  below  /,  but  only  a  small  minority 
of  them  are  below  E.  On  the  other  hand,  while  all  of 
the  whites  between  E  and  /  are  above  G,  only  a  small 
minority  is  above  K. 

Finally,  while  all  of  the  whites  between  /  and  F 
are  above  K,  only  a  small  minority  of  them  are  above 
H  and  only  a  minority  of  colored  between  K  and  H 
are  below  7,  while  all  are  below  F. 

This  diagram  will  stand  a  second  study.  Observ 
ing  the  group  between  G  and  K  we  will  notice  that 


Some  Vital  Phases.  51 

while  its  top  is  below  /  and  its  bottom  below  E,  the 
major  portion  is  above  E.  Taking  the  group  between 
K  and  H;  while  its  top  is  below  F  and  its  bottom  below 
/,  the  major  part  is  above  /.  Similarly  studying  the 
group  between  E  and  I,  we  notice  that  while  the  top  is 
above  K  and  the  bottom  above  G,  the  major  portion  is 
below  K.  Take  the  group  between  7  and  F;  while  its 
top  is  above  H  and  its  bottom  above  K,  its  major  por 
tion  is  below  H. 

From  these  facts  we  reach  the  following  con 
clusions  : — 

1.  Taking  averages,  there  is  very  little  difference 
between  the  low  type  white  man  and  the  low  type 
colored  man.     The  same  is  true  of  both  the  medium 
grade  and  the  highest  grade  in  both  races.    That  dif 
ference,  though,  in  each  case  is  in  favor  of  the  white 
man. 

2.  There  is  an  almost  immeasurable  difference  be 
tween  the  lowest  colored  man  and  the  highest  white 
one.     This  difference  is,  of  course,  in  favor  of  the 
white  man. 

3.  There  is  the  same  difference  between  the  lowest 
colored  man  and  the  highest  colored  man  that  there  is 
between  the  lowest  white  man  and  the  highest  white 
man.    This  is  equally  to  the  credit  of  both  races. 

4.  There  is  not  only  a  great  difference  between  the 
lowest  white  man  and  the  highest  colored  man,  but 
a  very  great  difference  between  the  medium  white 
man  and  the  highest  colored  man.    In  both  of  these 
instances  the  difference  is  in  favor  of  the  colored  man. 


I. 

These  general  ethnological  truths  based  on  world 
wide  facts  are  strictly  applicable  to  the  race  situation 
in  this  country,  and  we  can  scarcely  avoid  questioning 


52  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

the  sincerity  or  the  sanity  of  those  who  essay  to  dis 
cuss  this  subject  by  ignoring  the  first  conclusion, 
emphasizing  the  second,  and  denying  the  third  and 
fourth. 

These  facts  taken  at  their  face  value  give  at  once 
racial  predominance  to  the  white  and  show  at  a  glance 
the  absurdity  of  the  fatuous  political  slogan  of  "Negro 
Domination."  Add  to  this  the  well-known  tendency 
of  racial  units  to  co-operate  in  the  presence  of  general 
danger,  and  it  becomes  self-evident  that  only  through 
his  own  ignorance  or  venality  can  the  white  man's 
supremacy  in  this  country  be  endangered. 

Returning  to  our  diagram,  the  true  goal  of  the 
whites  at  E  is  /;  and  those  at  /  should  be  headed  for  F. 
Those  at  F  should  study  to  maintain  their  own  stand 
ing  and  lend  all  possible  assistance  to  those  at  E  and  /. 
Similarly  the  colored  people  at  G  should  head  for  K 
and  those  at  K  steer  for  H  and  those  at  H  be  circum 
spect  to  maintain  their  own  standing  and  do  all  they 
can  for  G  and  K. 

This  constructive  program  means  that  the  races 
will  move  on  parallel  lines  to  a  higher  civilisation. 
Cross-firing  at  each  other  means,  at  the  best,  delay, 
and  at  the  worst  retrogression  and  decay.  Two  men 
can  ride  one  horse  successfully  if  the  man  in  the  front 
is  a  good  rider  and  will  devote  his  time  to  guiding  the 
horse  and  picking  the  way — instead  of  trying  to  kick 
the  hind  man  off.  The  white  man  has  the  front  seat 
on  the  political  horse  in  this  country,  and  it  will  take 
all  of  his  brains  and  energy  to  avoid  the  chasms 
wherein  fell  the  "glory  that  was  Greece  and  the 
grandeur  that  was  Rome."  Trying  to  kick  the  colored 
man  off  is  a  useless  waste  of  energy,  to  say  nothing  of 
its  injustice  and  its  unfairness.  Races,  like  individ 
uals,  to  succeed  must  have  either  the  brains  to  lead 
or  the  faith  to  follow.  The  colored  man  has  the  faith 


Some  Vital  Phases.  53 

to  follow.  It  is  up  to  the  white  man  to  furnish  the 
brains  to  lead.  Let  us  accept  it  as  a  fact,  res  ad- 
judicata,  that  the  Negro  and  the  white  man  must  sur 
vive  or  perish  together  in  the  South. 

II. 

Grotesque  is  the  array  of  the  embattled  line  of 
prejudice. 

"In  England  in  the  olden  time,  when  a  feudal  lord 
fell  behind  in  the  collection  of  his  man  rent,  and  an 
other  baron,  a  hostile  swashbuckler,  roaring  and  strut 
ting  in  feathers  and  iron,  came  to  assault  his  castle, 
stone  men,  wooden  men,  and  even  sartorial  ones, 
stuffed  with  sawdust  and  straw,  were  placed  upon  the 
battlements.  The  sawdust  vassal  did  not  put  a  hand 
to  the  springald;  the  cross-bow  was  not  in  his  line;  he 
had  no  stomach  for  pulling  up  the  portcullis,  and  he 
poured  down  no  cauldrons  of  boiling  pitch  upon  the 
'testudo'  or  the  'sow'  that  thundered  away  at  the  bal- 
lium  gate.  But,  for  all  that,  exalted  upon  the  battle 
ments,  and  with  the  proper  distance  lending  enchant 
ment  to  the  view  of  him,  the  retainer  of  wood  and  the 
vassal  of  straw  looked  quite  as  formidable  as  would 
have  done  a  Patroclus  or  a  Black  Agnes  of  Dunbar."3 

Careful  examination  of  "the  army  of  facts"  ar 
rayed  against  the  Negro,  notwithstanding  the  great 
disturbance  it  is  creating,  will  show  it  is  composed 
mostly  of  the  stuffed  forms  of  old  prejudices. 

The  wings  of  thought  are  heavy  with  the  dust 
of  centuries  of  injustice,  and  shadows  from  the  gloom 
of  the  Dark  Ages  still  lie  athwart  the  path  of  modern 
man.  Unfairness  obstructs  the  way  of  progress. 

There  is  a  kind  of  gullible  ignorance  about  the 
average  man  that  makes  him  accept  as  absolute  truth 

3  Saladin,  "God  and  His  Book." 


54  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

anything  bad  about  the  other  fellow,  receive  with 
satisfaction  any  amount  of  personal  "taffy,"  and 
actually  believe  self-interested  people  when  they  prom 
ise  something  for  nothing.  Barnum  said  contempt 
uously,  "The  American  people  like  to  be  humbugged ;" 
and  Jay  Gould  is  reported  to  have  said  in  disgust  at 
this  spirit,  "The  public  be  damned."  It  is  this  spirit 
that  gives  vitality  and  viciousness  to  the  Negro  ques 
tion, — falsely  so  called.  To  put  out  of  business  the 
people  who  agitate  the  race  question  for  power  or  pelf, 
we  need  in  this  country  today  an  atmosphere  of  that 
intelligence  and  inquiry  which  is  illumed  by  a  critical 
skepticism. 

In  illustration  of  this  contention  take  the  following 
anecdote  of  a  tramp ; — 

"No,  I  didn't  lose  that  leg  in  the  war,"  said  the 
stranger,  as  he  leaned  up  against  the  cold  wall  of  the 
postoffice.  "I  used  to  claim  that  my  leg  was  cut  off 
at  the  battle  of  Antietam ;  but  one  day  something  hap 
pened  to  cure  me  of  lying.  I  was  stumping  along  the 
highway  in  Ohio,  and  stopped  at  a  farmhouse  to  beg 
for  dinner. 

"  *  Where  did  you  lose  that  leg?'  asked  the  woman. 

"  'At  Gettysburg/ 

"  'Sit  down  till  I  call  my  husband.' 

"He  came  in  from  the  barn,  and  I  was  asked  where 
my  regiment  was  stationed  in  the  battle. 

"  'In  the  cemetery/  I  replied. 

"  'Oh !  well,  my  son  Bill  was  in  the  cemetery  too. 
I'll  call  him  in/ 

"Bill  soon  came  in,  and  he  wanted  to  know  what 
particular  gravestone  I  took  shelter  behind.  I  said  it 
was  a  Scotch  granite  monument. 

"  'Oh !'  grunted  Bill.  'My  brother  Bob  was  behind 
just  such  a  stone  and  I'll  call  him  in/ 

"Bob  came  in,  and  he  swore  a  mighty  oath  that  he 


Some  Vital  Phases.  55 

was  there  alone.  He  sort  of  pre-empted  that  monu 
ment,  and  remembered  the  inscription  to  a  word. 
However,  to  give  me  the  benefit  of  the  doubt,  I  was 
asked  my  regiment  and  company. 

'  'Company  B,  Fifth  Ohio/  I  promptly  answered. 

"  'Oh!  Brother  Jim  was  in  that  company;  I'll  call 
him  in/ 

"Jim  came  in,  took  a  square  look  at  me,  and  re 
marked:  'Stranger,  our  regiment  wasn't  within  200 
miles  of  Gettysburg  during  the  war/ 

"  'I  said  Twenty-fifth.  Of  course,  the  Fifth  wasn't 
there/ 

:  'Oh !    I'll  call  my  brother  Aaron ;  he  was  in  the 
Twenty-fifth/ 

"Aaron  came  in,  called  me  a  wooden-legged  liar, 
and  I  was  pitched  over  the  fence  into  the  road.  They 
have  got  this  war  business  down  so  fine  that  you  can't 
go  around  playing  tricks  on  the  country  no  more,  and 
the  best  way  is  to  own  the  truth  that  you  got  drunk 
and  got  in  the  way  of  a  locomotive." 

From  an  ingenious  and  able  monograph  by  Dr. 
Robert  Bennett  Bean,  which,  in  the  frank  words  of 
the  author,  is  "an  effort  to  show  that  there  is  a  dif 
ference  in  the  size  and  shape  of  the  Caucasian  and 
Negro  brains,"  I  quote  the  following: — 

"The  lot  of  brains  includes  a  larger  number  .from 
high-class  Negroes  than  from  high-class  Caucasians, 
and  a  larger  number  from  low-class  Caucasians  than 
from  low-class  Negroes,  this  being  especially  true  in 
regard  to  the  Negro  males  and  the  Caucasian  females. 
This  statement  is  based  on  the  following  facts : — 

"i.  There  is  a  larger  number  of  deaths  resulting 
from  acute  illnesses  and  from  accidents  among  the 
Negroes,  giving  a  larger  number  of  brains  from  nor 
mal  individuals. 

"2.  That  a  larger  number  of  Negro  bodies  are 


56  American.  Civilization  and  I  lie  Negro. 

regularly  disposed  of  to  anatomists  indicates  less  re 
spect  for  the  dead  among  Negroes,  and  it  follows  that 
more  of  the  better  class  of  Negroes  would  be  received, 
since  the  whites  greatly  outnumber  the  blacks  in 
Baltimore. 

"3.  It  is  well  known  that  only  the  lowest  class  of 
whites  are  unclaimed,  especially  among  the  women, 
who  are  apt  to  be  prostitutes,  or  depraved,  or  the  like, 
while  among  Negroes  it  is  known  that  even  the  better 
class  neglect  their  dead  unless  provision  has  been 
made  for  their  care  after  death. 

"4.  It  is  a  well-attested  fact  that  the  Negroes  are 
at  present  roaming  over  the  country  without  fixed 
abode  in  greater  numbers  than  the  whites,  and  this 
might  result  in  many  stray  unclaimed  bodies  of  the 
better  class  of  Negroes  being  turned  over  to  the 
anatomists;  and,  finally, 

"5.  Many  mulattoes  and  mixed  bloods  are  included 
among  the  Negroes." 

Here  are  five  statements  of  "facts"  by  a  scholarly 
man  who  has  had  the  liberalizing  influence  of  a  medi 
cal  education.  Surely,  it  is  not  unfair  to  take  these 
"facts"  as  representative  of  all  that  is  fairest  and  best 
in  the  anti-Negro  propaganda ! 

The  most  casual  reading  of  the  statements  show 
but  one,  the  fifth,  can  be  accepted  as  wholly  true.  Let 
us  examine  them  seriatim.  There  is  an  error  in  the 
first  proposition  that  is  patent  to  the  veriest  tyro  in 
medicine;  namely,  the  assumption  that  the  brains  of 
people  dying  of  acute  diseases  are  normal.  Would 
not  acute  yellow  atrophy  of  the  liver  change  the  com 
position  of  the  brain  as  well  as  other  tissues  of  the 
body?  Would  not  acute  diarrhea  reduce  the  brain 
weight  in  common  with  the  general  diminution  of 
body  weight  ?  What  organ  of  the  body  is  left  normal 
in  the  emaciated  victim  of  typhoid  fever  ?  As  a  zero 


An  African  Methodist  Episcopal  senior  bishop  and  his  predecessors. 


Some  Vital  Phases.  57 

factor  neutralizes  the  multiplication  product  regard 
less  of  the  value  of  other  factors,  so  a  false  assumption 
vitiates  a  conclusion.  Thus,  statement  number  one 
disappears  as  a  valid  argument;  being  scientifically 
untrue,  comparative  data  based  thereon  are  worthless. 

Number  two,  "That  a  large  number  of  Negro 
bodies  are  regularly  disposed  of  to  anatomists  indi 
cates  [not]  less  respect  for  the  dead  among  Negroes," 
but  that  the  whites  are  in  control.  Just  as  shabby 
school-buildings  tell  not  of  the  colored  man's  lack  of 
taste  in  public  architecture,  but  of  the  white  man's 
power  and  partiality  in  government.  The  rest  of  the 
sentence  is  a  false  conclusion  and  wholly  irrelevant 
even  if  the  first  clause  were  true.  The  logic  and  syn 
tax  are  equally  bad,  and  the  conclusions  are  unscien 
tific.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  truth  is  the  opposite  of 
the  declaration  in  the  first  clause  of  this  sentence.  So 
strong  is  the  colored  man's  orthodox  faith  and  the 
fear  of  anatomization  that  it  is  only  by  subterfuge  or 
accident  that  any  but  the  poverty-stricken,  friendless, 
or  legally  condemned  ever  reach  the  dissectors'  tables. 

The  prosperity  of  the  colored  undertaker  is  strong 
evidence  of  the  race's  care  for  its  dead.  Any  colored 
preacher  could  have  given  Dr.  Bean  better  in 
formation. 

To  number  three,  as  it  relates  to  the  Negro,  I  enter 
a  general  denial,  and  call  as  witnesses  the  officers, 
white  and  black,  of  industrial  insurance  companies 
doing  business  among  the  colored  people. 

A  flat  contradiction  is  the  only  answer  to  number 
four.  It  is  not  a  fact  that  "the  better  class  of  Negroes 
are  roaming  around  over  the  country  without  fixed 
abode." 

This  is  the  kind  of  literature  that  is  poisoning 
the  stream  of  our  national  life  by  increasing  race 
prejudice. 


58  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

The  doctrinaire  ebullitions  of  the  student  often  be 
come  slogans  of  war  among  the  ignorant.  Newspaper 
and  platform  arguments  about  "white  supremacy" 
often  take  the  form  of  cruelty  and  oppression  when 
interpreted  by  a  street-car  conductor,  a  ward  police 
man,  or  a  workhouse  guard.  The  extent  of  this  op 
pression,  I  am  sure,  is  entirely  unknown  to  the  major 
ity  of  white  citizens.  It  is  an  interesting  if  pathetic 
study,  to  see  an  artificial  self-consciousness  of  racial 
superiority  strangle  the  natural  impulses  of  civiliza 
tion.  The  other  day  I  saw  a  good-looking,  modest- 
appearing,  well-dressed,  but  frail  colored  woman  with 
a  child  in  her  arms  attempt  to  board  a  street-car.  She 
was  about  to  fail.  The  conductor  started  to  help  her, 
then  looked  at  the  other  passengers  and  desisted.  His 
face  was  a  study.  Prejudice  won ;  but  it  was  a  Pyrrhic 
victory.  To  prove  a  doctrine  he  damned  a  man. 
There  is  something  wrong  with  a  code  of  ethics  that 
makes  its  votaries  feel  it  is  a  humiliation  to  be  kind  to 
any  sentient  creature,  much  less  a  human  being,  how 
ever  humble. 

Chromatopsia  (a  perversion  of  the  color  sense) 
yet  may  wreck  the  twentieth-century  civilization. 

Conduct  must  be  consistent  or  character  ^vill  not 
be  sound.  An  individual  or  people  cannot  long  remain 
both  Jekyll  and  Hyde;  one  character  or  the  other  will 
eventually  triumph.  No  one  can  successfully  change 
his  character  with  his  company.  A  race  cannot  be 
persistently  unjust  and  dishonest  to  another  race  and 
be  permanently  either  honest  or  just  to  itself.  Kind 
ness  never  degraded  anyone,  nor  did  rudeness  ever 
vindicate  anybody's  claim  to  superiority.  A  virtuous 
man  is  an  asset  to  his  community,  and  a  vicious  man 
is  a  deficit,  regardless  of  racial  identity. 

There  is  a  mechanical  principle  called  "superposi 
tion  of  small  motions,"  which  shows  that  the  result  of 


Some  Vital  Phases.  59 

two  forces  acting  simultaneously  on  a  body  is  the  sum 
or  difference  of  these  forces,  according  as  they  act  in 
the  same  or  in  opposite  directions.  (Illustration:  a 
cork  in  a  still  pond  when  two  stones  are  thrown  in.) 
This  principle  holds  good  in  social  and  economic  prog 
ress.  Repressive  measures  against  a  part  of  the 
nation  will  retard  the  progress  of  the  whole  nation. 
Russia  has  been  injured  by  her  treatment  of  the  Jew, 
and  America  by  her  treatment  of  the  Negro.  Strange 
that  each  nation  can  see  the  other's  error,  but  not  its 
own.  Every  white  politician  that  has  reached  power 
and  place  by  abusing  the  colored  people  has  not  only 
subtracted  from  the  progress  and  prestige  of  the 
nation,  but  represents  a  positively  retrogressive  and 
deteriorating  force  in  the  civilization  of  the  white  man. 

Science  joins  common  sense,  religion,  and  morals 
in  warning  the  virtuous  of  both  races  to  unite  their 
efforts  against  the  vicious  of  both  races,  if  they  would 
conserve  the  cultural  integrity  of  their  respective  units 
and  the  political  welfare  of  their  common  country. 

The  effort  to  substitute  race  for  fitness  in  the  quali 
fications  for  citizenship  not  only  outrages  morals  and 
religion,  but  runs  counter  to  the  demonstrated  truths 
of  science. 

"The  differences  between  types  of  man  are,  on  the 
whole,  small  as  compared  with  the  range  of  variations 
in  each  type."  (Boas.)  That  is,  there  is  more  dif 
ference  between  an  educated,  moral  white  man  and  a 
vicious  white  man,  than  there  is  between  a  vicious 
black  man  and  a  vicious  white  man.  The  same  is  true 
of  the  colored  people. 

Cultural  unities  make  races,  and  political  unities 
make  nations.  The  former  may  co-operate  to  form 
the  latter  without  destroying  or  even  endangering 
their  own  existence.  The  French  of  Quebec  are  still 
French  in  race  after  being  British  in  nationality  for 


60  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

more  than  a  century.  The  Negro's  difficulties  are  only 
human  and  natural;  therefore,  he  must  be  patient, 
hopeful,  and  persistent.  Others  have  won  and  so  can 
he.  God  is  just  and  Nature  plays  no  favorities,  though 
some  fare  worse  than  others.  All  humanity  has  a 
right  to  a  place  in  the  sun.  There  is  room  for  all; 
therefore,  the  white  man  must  be  tolerant,  consider 
ate,  and  kind.  The  permanency  of  his  racial  primacy 
depends  upon  the  general  advancement  of  mankind. 
Civilization  must  finally  rest  upon  the  precepts  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  or  perish  from  the  earth. 


III. — UNDESIRABLE  VARIATIONS. 

The  hard  conditions  of  discrimination  and  repres 
sion  under  which  Americans  of  African  descent  are 
forced  to  live  have  produced  a  class  of  individuals  that 
have  done  untold  harm  to  the  race.  Whether  he  has 
essayed  to  lead  or  has  been  taken  as  typical  and  has 
brought  upon  us  the  contempt  of  other  races,  the 
Negro  ashamed  of  his  blood  or  without  faith  in  his 
race  is  a  nuisance. 

"The  man  without  a  country"  has  been  held  up  as 
the  verisimilitude  of  misery  itself — at  once  the  most 
pitiable  and  contemptible  of  mankind — but  he  is  not 
comparable  in  meanness  of  spirit,  in  self-degradation 
and  utter  hopelessness  of  improvement  with  the  man 
without  a  race.  The  football  of  heredity  and  the  play 
thing  of  environment,  he  confuses  all  values  and  mis 
interprets  all  standards — with  the  heart  of  a  traitor 
and  the  brains  of  a  thief  he  destroys  his  own  self- 
respect  between  the  upper  millstone  of  fruitless  desire 
to  be  white  and  the  nether  millstone  of  senseless  dread 
of  being  black.  Without  the  respect  of  the  white 
people,  without  either  the  respect  or  confidence  of  the 


Some  Vital  Phases.  61 

black  people,  without  self-esteem  he  enters  the  cate 
gory  of  Dante's  Neutrals : — 

"Souls 

To  misery  doomed  who  intellectual  good 
Have  lost.    Fame  of  them  the  world  hath  none. 

****** 
Speak  not  of  them,  but  look  and  pass  by." 

Without  apparent  place  in  the  socio-economic  formula 
of  the  nation,  this  class  has  a  catalytic  value  and  de 
serves  a  careful  examination. 

It  is  a  mental  condition  and  not  bodily  characteris 
tics  that  differentiates  this  group.  They  are  usually  of 
mixed  blood,  but  not  invariably. 

W.  B.  T.  Williams,  a  noted  Negro  educator,  gives 
an  apt  and  vivid  description  of  this  anomalous  group : 

"Out  in  Kentucky  there  lives  an  old  colored  man 
who  has  made  a  considerable  little  fortune  out  of  his 
coal-yard.  He  is  shrewd,  economical,  close.  His  wife 
is  just  like  him.  They  delight  in  showing  the  less 
thrifty  young  colored  people  of  today  a  cook-stove 
which  they  bought  two  years  before  the  Civil  War  and 
have  used  constantly  ever  since.  Although  he  keeps 
coal  for  sale,  the  old  man  takes  pleasure  in  telling  how 
he  always  manages  to  get'  discarded  railroad  ties  to 
cut  up  and  burn  in  the  stove.  'Coal,  you  know/  he  will 
tell  you,  'just  burns  out  stoves/  By  such  little  econ 
omies  the  old  couple  have  saved  their  money.  They 
spend  none  that  is  possible  to  keep.  Recently  the  city 
improved  the  street  that  passes  the  home  of  the  old 
people.  Their  share  of  the  expense  amounted  to  sev 
eral  hundred  dollars,  which,  of  course,  they  had  to  pay. 
The  old  lady  died  from  the  shock.  The  old  man  made 
his  will  leaving  his  fortune  to  the  son  of  his  old  master. 
No  one  has  been  able  to  induce  him  to  leave  his  money 
to  colored  people  or  to  any  Negro  institution.  'No/ 


62  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

he  says,  'Niggers  are  no  good.  No  use  doing  any 
thing  for  Niggers/  Though  he  himself  is  a  Negro 
who  has  done  no  little  thing  in  the  world  in  the  face  of 
many  disadvantages,  he  is  consumed  with  deadly, 
damning  disbelief  in  the  Negro.  And  there  are  others 
of  his  type,  belated  inheritors  of  a  belief  born  of  con 
ditions  that  have  happily  passed  away." 

From  charcoal  to  diamond  is  only  a  course  in  cul 
ture — a  course  that  nature  conducts  easily  and  man 
imitates  with  partial  success,  only;  but  intellectual 
comprehension  and  physical  execution  are  by  no  means 
synonymous.  I  saw  a  man  throw  an  iron  ring  ten 
yards  and  hang  it  on  a  peg, — I  understood  at  once, 
but  five  hundred  trials  did  not  enable  me  to  do  it.  Had 
I  tried  it  without  seeing  it  done,  I  might  have  reached 
the  conclusion  that  it  could  not  be  done.  The  differ 
ence  between  the  despised  ware  of  the  charcoal  vender 
and  the  sparkling  joy  of  the  jeweler's  window  is  only 
a  difference  of  experience,  and  not  a  difference  of 
qualities  or  capacities. 

Science,  in  its  humbler  aspects,  consists  in  finding 
out  the  workings  of  nature — the  secrets  of  her  proc 
esses.  Science  in  her  nobler  aspects,  taking  advantage 
of  the  knowledge  gained  in  the  humbler  walks  of  ob 
servation,  enters  the  region  of  experiment  and  specu 
lation  and  seeks  to  measure  the  possible.  From  the 
certainty  of  fact  she  essays  the  uncertainty  of  pre 
diction.  Observation  warrants  prediction  so  long  as 
the  former  is  done  with  care  and  the  latter  with 
modesty.  It  is  a  proper  exercise  of  the  intellect  to 
widen  the  mental  horizon  by  extending  the  frontiers 
of  knowledge  over  the  borders  of  actual  experience. 
Speculation  upon  the  possible  is  legitimate  so  long  as 
it  does  no  violence  to  the  actual.  In  speaking  of  the 
actual  we  must  not  confuse  facts  with  opinion.  This 
error  has  at  times  extinguished  the  torch  of  reason. 


Some  Vital  Phases.  63 

If  we  read  the  past  aright,  we  may,  in  the  light  of  the 
present,  forecast  the  future.  With  nature  and  man 
it  is  the  same. 

Science  and  history  agree  in  holding  facts  as  the 
only  just  basis  for  prediction.  The  more  extended  and 
accurate  the  knowledge  of  facts  the  more  modest  and 
limited  the  field  of  prediction.  A  knowledge  of  the 
facts  of  physical  sciences  will  temper  our  zeal  in  the 
speculative  ones.  Demonstration  is  more  exacting 
than  prophecy.  Physics  and  physiology  are  more 
potent  than  ethnology  and  politics.  We  can  accept 
the  theories  of  the  latter  only  when  they  do  not  con 
flict  with  the  proven  facts  of  the  former. 

The  geographical  study  of  the  earth  and  the  his 
torical  study  of  the  activities  of  man  both  point  to  the 
North  American  Continent  as  the  theater  of  the  com 
ing  Golden  Age  of  human  civilization.  The  fate  of 
the  United  States  will  determine  the  fate  of  the  con 
tinent  and  the  Race  Question  zvith  its  economical  rami 
fications  is  the  crucial  point  in  the  civil  and  political 
life  of  this  nation.  The  higher  the  state  of  civilization 
the  more  complicated  and  diverse  may  be  the  co-oper 
ating  elements.  As  the  simplest  animal  bodies  are 
homogeneous  throughout,  with  no  differentiation  of 
tissue  or  function,  so  the  simplest  civilizations  and 
states  admit  but  single  cultural  unities  or  races.  As 
animal  bodies  increase  in  beauty  and  effectiveness  they 
increase  in  complications  and  differentiations  until  the 
climax  is  reached  in  man,  the  most  complicated 
mechanism  of  terrestrial  existence, — "the  moral  and 
intellectual  sensorium  of  the  world."  Just  so  with 
civilization ;  as  it  increases  in  effectiveness  it  increases 
in  comprehensiveness.  First  the  family,  then  the 
tribe,  then  the  vicinage,  then  the  nations,  and  finally 
man  without  limitation,  either  geographical  or  con 
sanguineous.  The  great  European  War  was  possible 


64  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

only  because  civilization  had  not  passed  beyond  the 
stage  of  nationality.  Before  man  can  pass  that  point, 
a  nationality  must  arise  that  can  and  will  give  all 
races  a  place  in  the  sun.  This  means  not  only  increas 
ing  complications,  but  increasing  effectiveness,  if  har 
mony  of  action  can  be  maintained. 

More  than  a  generation  ago  Guyot  truly  said :  "The 
progress,  we  say,  is  diversification — it  is  variety  of 
organs  and  of  functions.  What,  then,  is  the  condition 
of  a  greater  amount  of  life,  or  a  richer  life,  or  a  com- 
pleter  growth  for  the  animal?  Is  it  not  the  multi 
plicity  and  the  variety  of  the  special  organs,  which  are 
so  many  different  means  whereby  the  individual  may 
place  himself  in  relation  with  the  external  world,  may 
receive  the  most  varied  impressions  from  it,  and,  so  to 
speak,  may  taste  it  in  all  its  forms,  and  may  act  upon 
it  in  turn?  What  an  immense  distance  between  the 
life  of  the  polyp,  which  is  only  a  digestive  tube,  and 
that  of  the  superior  animals;  above  all,  of  man,  en 
dowed  with  so  many  exquisite  senses,  for  whom  the 
world  of  nature,  as  well  as  the  world  of  ideas,  is  open 
on  all  sides,  awakening  and  drawing  forth,  in  a  thous 
and  various  ways,  all  the  living  forces  wherewith  God 
has  endowed  him ! 

"And  what  we  here  say  of  organic  individuals,  is  it 
not  true  of  societies  of  individuals,  and  particularly  of 
human  societies  ?  Is  it  not  evident  that  the  same  law 
of  development  is  applicable  to  them?  Here,  again, 
homogeneousness,  uniformity,  is  the  elementary  state, 
the  savage  state.  Diversity,  variety  of  elements, 
which  call  for  and  multiply  exchanges;  the  almost 
infinite  specialization  of  the  functions  corresponding 
to  the  various  talents  bestowed  on  every  man  by 
providence. 

"All  life  is  mutual,  is  exchange.  In  individuals,  as 
well  as  in  societies,  that  which  excites  life,  that  which 


Some  Vital  Phases.  65 

is  the  condition  of  life,  is  difference.  The  progress  of 
development  is  diversity;  the  end  is  harmonious  unity 
allowing  all  differences,  all  individualities  to  exist,  but 
co-ordinating  and  subjecting  them  to  a  superior  aim. 

"Every  being,  every  individual,  necessarily  forms 
a  part  of  a  greater  organism  than  itself,  out  of  which 
we  cannot  conceive  its  existence,  and  in  which  it  has  a 
special  part  to  act.  By  performing  these  functions,  it 
arises  to  the  highest  degree  of  perfection  its  own 
nature  is  capable  of  attaining.  Unhappy  he  who  iso 
lates  himself,  and  refuses  to  enter  into  those  relations 
of  intercourse  with  others  which  assure  to  him  a 
superior  life.  He  deprives  himself  voluntarily  of  the 
nutritive  sap  intended  to  give  him  vigor,  and,  like  a 
branch  torn  from  the  vine,  dries  up  and  perishes  in 
his  egoism."4 

That  political  nationality  does  not  necessarily 
coincide  with  cultural  unity  is  neither  illusory  nor 
deplorable.  The  American  colored  man  and  the  Am 
erican  white  man  can  develop  distinctive  cultural  uni 
ties  and  preserve  an  identical  political  nationality. 
The  objective,  mechanical,  impersonal  side  of  civiliza 
tion  has  been  tending  toward  unity.  The  body  politic, 
the  framework  of  government,  judiciary,  executive, 
legislative,  is  a  very  different  thing  from  the  soul 
politic,  the  traditions  and  ideals  of  the  citizenry.  The 
diatribes  against  the  danger  of  Negro  citizenship  are 
not  more  harrowing  than  those  against  educating 
women  (see  French  argument  against  admitting 
women  to  High  School),  or  the  licensing  of  railroads 
(see  English  speeches  against  the  dangers  of  12  miles 
an  hour). 

The  Amphictyonic  Council  failed  among  the 
Greeks  and  the  Heptarchy  failed  among  the  Saxons, 
but  the  Union  in  America  endured  the  shock  of  civil 


4  Arnold  Guyot,  "Earth  and  Man." 

5 


66  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

war  and  still  stands.  The  Greeks  were  all  white  and  so 
were  the  Saxons,  but  the  Americans  were  of  differ 
ent  colors — heterogeneous  in  race,  but  homogeneous 
in  nationality.  So  they  were,  so  they  are,  and  so  they 
will  remain.  Advancing  civilization  will  strengthen 
alike  individual  cultural  unities  and  a  common  national 
patriotism. 

Patriotism  is  no  longer  a  brutal  instinct  of  blood, 
but  a  high  expression  of  community  of  ideals  and  of 
moral  as  well  as  material  interests. 

They  make  fun  of  the  Negroes'  religion.  There 
be  those  that  make  fun  of  all  religion,  but  if  justice 
ever  dwells  among  men  and  humanity  ever  knows  the 
joy  of  freedom,  these  blessings  will  come  through 
religion. 

The  history  of  the  world  has  been  called,  aptly 
enough,  the  martyrdom  of  man.  Civilization,  or 
human  progress,  seems  to  have  risen  by  slow  incre 
ments,  generation  being  superimposed  upon  genera 
tion,  like  the  coral  isles  of  the  sea — one  dies  to  make 
a  foundation  for  the  other's  life.  Contemplation  of 
this  phase  of  human  life  always  leads  to  sadness  and 
sometimes  to  pessimism. 

"What  is  man  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him?" 
asks  the  Psalmist.  "Man  has  no  pre-eminence  over  a 
beast,"  says  the  preacher.  "Oh,  why  should  the  spirit 
of  mortal  be  proud!"  exclaims  one  poet. 

"This  world  is  but  a  fleeting  show 
To  man's  illusion  given," 

laments  another — and  so  on  and  on  throughout  all 
literature.  There  is  not  one  cheerful  word  from  any 
one  contemplating  this  phase  of  existence.  History  is 
a  continuous  funeral  procession  and  the  earth  one  vast 
graveyard. 


Some  Vital  Phases.  67 

"The  hills, 

Rock-ribbed  and  ancient  as  the  sun;  the  vales, 
Stretching  in  pensive  quietness  between; 
The  venerable  woods,  rivers  that  move 
In  majesty,  and  the,  complaining  brooks 
That  make  the  meadows  green ;  and  poured  round  all 
Old  ocean's  gray  and  melancholy  waste, 
Are  but  the  solemn  decorations  all 
Of  the  great  tomb  of  man.     The  golden  sun, 
The  planets,  all  the  infinite  hosts  of  heaven 
Are  shining  on  the  sad  abodes  of  death, 
Through  the  still  lapse  of  ages. 

All  that  tread 

The  globe,  are  but  a  handful  to  the  tribes 
That  slumber  in  its  bosom." 

But  there  is  another  phase  of  human  existence; 
and  the  struggles  of  mankind  shall  find  fruition  in  a 
life  free  from  pain.  Religion  and  philosophy  unite  in 
looking  forward  to  a  golden  age.  The  struggle  of 
man  with  his  appetite  is  indicative  of  this  and  the 
approach  of  the  one  can  be  told  by  the  progress  of  the 
other.  Ancient  Israel  struggling  against  the  idola 
trous  excesses  of  the  people  and  modern  America 
fighting  color  prejudice  are  but  phases  of  this  evolu 
tionary  battle  of  man  for  civilization — for  a  life 
guided  by  reason  and  actuated  by  love.  This  view  of 
life  is  inspiring,  and  those  who  look  upon  it  believe  in 
the  ultimate  triumph  of  right  and  the  final  glory  of 
mankind. 

Bayard  Taylor's  vision  of  America  will  some  day 
be  true : — 

"  'Twas  glory  once,  to  be  a  Roman ; 
She  makes  it  glory,  now,  to  be  a  man.'' 


The  truly  cultivated  mind  will  not  regard  disagreement 
as  sufficient  cause  for  enmity.  Only  two  classes  of  people 
can  agree  on  all  points — the  densely  ignorant  and  the  pro 
foundly  wise.  People  that  can  see  nothing  can  always  agree 
on  what  they  see,  and  people  who  see  everything  clearly  and 
accurately  can  do  the  same  thing.  We  that  belong  to  neither 
of  these  classes  must  be  charitable,  which  is  the  goal  of  ethics ; 
and  try  to  understand  and  help  each  other,  which  is  the  hoped- 
for  fruition  of  all  science.  In  other  words,  among  cultivated 
individuals,  differences  of  opinion  become  subjects  of  con 
verse;  as  a  diversity  of  products  promotes  commerce  among 
nations. 

"A  certain  resemblance*  is  found  in  any  two  opposite 
regions  of  the  sky,  no  matter  where  we  may  choose  them." 
So  with  human  conduct,  "Learn  what  is  true,"  says  Science. 
"Do  what  is  right,"  says  Ethics.  Either  road  leads  to  the 
desired  goal;  for  when  men  seek  the  true  they  will  also 
find  the  right;  and  when  they  seek  the  right  they  will  also 
find  the  true. 

SCIENCE  AND  CHRISTIAN  ETHICS. 


(68) 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SOME  BASIC  PROBLEMS. 

AN  old  principle  of  ethics  is  that  they  that  seek 
justice  must  do  justice.  They  that  come  into  the 
court  of  equity  must  come  with  clean  hands.  "Let  him 
without  sin  cast  the  first  stone." 

The  moral  sins  of  the  colored  people  are  great 
and  deserving  of  condemnation;  but  what  race  is 
without  similar  sin?  The  slum  proposition  and  pros 
titution  and  immorality  are  just  as  urgent  in  large 
cities  where  they  are  all  Caucasians  as  in  the  cities 
where  there  are  Negroes.  Since  it  is  so  often  asserted 
that  the  colored  man  has  neither  morals  nor  moral 
sense,  it  is  well  to  consider  this  subject  somewhat  in 
detail. 

"To  surround  one's  life  with  a  confused  mass  of 
spiritual  horrors ;  to  believe  in  ghosts,  or  in  vampires, 
in  demons,  in  magic,  in  witchcraft,  and  in  hostile  gods 
of  all  sorts ;  to  tangle  up  one's  daily  activities  in  a  net 
of  superstitious  customs;  to  waste  time  in  elaborate 
incantations;  to  live  in  fantastic  terrors  of  an  unseen 
world;  to  be  terrified  by  taboos  of  all  kinds,  so  that 
numerous  sorts  of  useful  deeds  are  surreptitiously  for 
bidden;  to  narrate  impossible  stories  and  believe  in 
them;  to  live  in  filth;  to  persecute;  to  resist  light;  to 
fight  against  progress;  to  be  mentally  slothful,  dull, 
sensuous,  cruel ;  to  be  the  prey  of  endless  foolishness ; 
to  be  treacherous;  to  be  destructive — well,  these  are 
the  mental  traits  of  no  one  or  two  races  of  men."1 


1  Josiah  Royce,  "Race  Questions  and  Other  American  Problems." 

(69) 


70  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 


I. 

Kant  says  that  an  action  to  have  moral  worth 
must  be  done  from  a  sense  of  duty,  and  adds,  'That 
an  action  done  from  duty  derives  its  moral  worth, 
not  from  the  purpose  which  is  to  be  attained  by  it, 
but  from  the  maxim  by  which  it  is  determined,  and 
therefore  does  not  depend  on  the  realization  of  the 
object  of  the  action,  but  merely  on  the  principle  of 
volition  by  which  the  action  has  taken  place,  without 
regard  to  any  object  or  desire.  .  .  .  The  pur 
poses  which  we  may  have  in  view  in  our  actions,  or 
their  effects  regarded  as  ends  and  springs  of  the  will, 
cannot  give  to  actions  any  unconditional  or  moral 
worth.  In  what,  then,  can  their  worth  lie,  if  it  is  not 
to  consist  in  the  will  and  in  reference  to  its  expected 
effect?  It  cannot  lie  anywhere  but  in  the  principle  of 
the  will  without  regard  to  the  ends  which  can  be  at 
tained  by  the  action.  For  the  will  stands  between  its 
a  priori  principle,  which  is  formal,  and  its  a  posteriori 
spring,  which  is  material,  as  between  two  roads ;  and 
as  it  must  be  determined  by  something,  it  follows  that 
it  must  be  determined  by  the  formal  principle  of  voli 
tion  when  an  action  is  done  from  duty,  in  which  case 
every  material  principle  has  been  withdrawn  from  it. 

"Duty  is  the  necessity  of  acting  from  respect  for 
the  law."1  That  is,  moral  conduct  is  conduct  con 
trolled  by  intellect. 

Animals  have  no  morals  (or  very  feeble  moral 
sense)  because  of  the  state  of  their  intellectual  de 
velopment.  We  then  have  no  morals  only  when  no 
reason  enters  into  our  actions.  Huxley  said  he  never 
had  found  a  fool — that  is,  a  man  with  no  reason  for 


Kant,  "Fundamental  Principles  of  Morals." 


Some  Basic  Problems.  71 

his  actions.  He  had  come  across  what  appeared  at 
first  sight  splendid  specimens,  but  closer  examination 
always  revealed  some  reason  in  the  position  from  that 
man's  viewpoint.  As  there  are  no  men  without  lan 
guage  and  reason,  so  there  are  no  men  without  morals. 
In  the  face  of  these  fundamental  facts  those  who  per 
sist  in  asserting  the  Negro  has  no!  moral  sense  are 
either  innocently  ignorant,  willfully  mendacious,  or 
theory-mad  beyond  redemption. 

It  is  as  difficult  to  comprehend  the  morals  of  a 
people  as  it  is  the  motives  of  an  individual.  To  do 
either  correctly  we  must  think  their  thoughts  and  have 
their  experiences.  Since  this  is  impossible,  human 
experience  says  judge  not, — "With  what  measure  ye 
mete,  it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again."  That  is  just 
what  has  happened  in  the  race  situation  in  this  coun 
try.  The  races  have  been  pulled  apart  until  they  are 
suspicious  of  each  other.  Misunderstanding  has  made 
them  both  mean. 

All  men  have  reason,  but  all  men  do  not  reason 
equally  well.  When  a  man  correctly  forecasts  the  con 
sequences  of  his  deeds,  his  reasoning  is  sound.  To 
reason  thus  soundly  one  must  have  full  knowledge  of 
all  the  factors  in  a  situation.  Hence  the  soundness  of 
the  conclusions  reached  by  reason  depends  upon  the  ac 
curacy  and  fullness  of  the  data  upon  which  it  is  work 
ing.  Failure  to  recognize  this  obvious  fact,  is  one  of 
the  tragedies  of  human  history.  A  strictly  logical 
mind  of  limited  intelligence  is  one  of  the  most  danger 
ous  forces  of  civilization.  Logic  without  knowledge 
is  force  without  direction.  A  man  with  such  a  mind 
is  like  a  ship  with  a  strong  engine,  but  weak  steering 
apparatus  and  a  defective  chart;  the  stronger  the 
engine,  the  more  disastrous  the  inevitable  wreck. 

As  we  have  all  kinds  of  reasoning,  so  we  have  all 
grades  of  morals — good,  bad,  and  indifferent.  The 


American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

ignorant  are  always  prejudiced  and  the  prejudiced  are 
always  ignorant.  The  ignorance  of  the  prejudiced  is 
incurable  because  they  obstinately  refuse  the  only 
remedy — knowledge.  Race  prejudice  is  the  meanest 
of  prejudices  and  race  pride  the  most  fatuous  of  follies. 
They  are  complementary  inanities.  The  white  man 
that  is  proud  of  his  white  skin  and  the  black  man  that 
is  ashamed  of  his  black  skin  are  both  sinners  in  the 
sacred  courts  of  civilization;  for  they  have  missed 
their  high  calling  to  be  men.  Why  should  a  man  be 
proud  or  ashamed  of  that  for  which  he  is  justly  due 
neither  praise  nor  blame?  No  man  is  responsible  for 
his  color,  but  he  is  responsible  for  his  character. 

This  has  nothing  to  do  with  social  preferences  and 
consciousness  of  kind.  Man,  like  other  animals,  in 
stinctively  prefers  to  associate  with  his  own  kind. 
"Pares  cum  paribus,  facillime  congregantur,  vetero 
proverbio,"2  wrote  Cicero  two  thousand  years  ago. 
There  is  a  difference  between  my  preferring  to  asso 
ciate  with  black  people  because  I  am  black,  and  my 
wanting  to  injure  white  people  because  they  are  white. 

How  curious  is  the  world-wide  infirmity  of  human 
reason  shown  in  the  attitude  of  the  average  individual 
toward  new  facts,  especially  if  they  seem  to  run 
counter  to  his  present  conclusions.  The  more  over 
whelming  the  evidence,  the  more  obstinate  the  opposi 
tion.  This  attitude  has  been  likened  to  the  pupil  of 
the  eye :  the  more  light  you  throw  into  it,  the  smaller 
it  gets. 

Some  years  ago  I  was  present  at  the  meeting  of  a 
society  devoted  to  scientific  research.  The  question 
of  spiritualism  came  up.  Sentiment  was  divided. 
There  were  various  phases  of  belief.  Some  believed, 
some  disbelieved,  and  some  were  non-committal.  The 


2  Might  be  freely  translated  "According  to  the  old  proverb,  birds 
of  a  feather  flock  together." 


Some  Basic  Problems.  73 

disbelievers  got  the  best  of  the  argument  by  produc 
ing  incontrovertible  evidence  that  a  popular  medium 
then  operating  in  the  city  was  a  fraud.  The  situation 
was  relieved  by  an  intelligent,  refined,  and  educated 
man  taking  the  position  that  the  spurious  was  only  an 
evidence  that  the  genuine  existed.  The  president  in 
nocently  asked  if  this  gentleman  could  tell  the  genuine 
from  the  spurious.  Upon  receiving  an  affirmative 
answer  the  subject  was  dropped. 

Several  months  after  this  incident,  a  notice  ap 
peared  in  the  local  papers  that  a  prominent  spiritual 
ist  had  secured  the  services  of  a  great  medium  to  vin 
dicate  spiritualism  before  the  Society.  His  identity 
was  not  disclosed  for  prudential  reasons.  The  night 
came  and  so  did  the  crowd.  The  meeting  was  en 
thusiastic,  the  vindication  a  success,  and  the  spiritual 
ists  were  jubilant.  There  was  but  one  regret:  the 
president  and  secretary,  both  hard-headed  disbelievers, 
were  unfortunately  absent,  having  been  called  away 
from  the  city  some  days  previous.  Speeches  were 
made,  appropriate  resolutions  were  adopted,  and  then 
the  presiding  vice-president  pulled  aside  a  curtain,  ex 
posing  the  president  and  secretary,  as  the  world- 
famous  medium  and  materializing  ghost. 

It  would  seem  that  the  antis  had  won,  at  least  to 
the  extent  of  proving  that  the  elect  could  be  deceived. 
Result?  The  spiritualists,  led  by  the  proposer  of  the 
test,  left  the  society  in  a  body,  excitedly  declaring  they 
had  been  imposed  upon.  They  were  simply  angered 
by  evidence. 

Well  has  it  been  said  that  the  greatest  gift  of  wis 
dom  is  to  liberalise  (set  free)  the  mind.  Ignorance 
enslaves  as  surely  as  the  truth  frees. 

Another  trait  of  human  reason  is  to  measure 
everything  by  itself.  If  we  do  not  know  the  other 
man's  motives,  we  judge  him  by  ours.  That  is,  if  we 


74  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

do  not  know  why  an  individual  does  a  certain  thing, 
we  say  he  did  it  for  the  reasons  we  would  do  it  under 
the  circumstances  as  we  see  them.  This  process  is 
often  unconscious,  but  it  is  unvarying  with  the  aver 
age  individual.  This  fact  has  been  crystallized  in  the 
proverbial  wisdom  of  mankind : — 

"To  the  pure  all  things  are  pure." 
"Evil  bex  to  him  who  evil  thinks." 

It  is  not  the  wisest  of  mankind  that  claims  all 
other  people  are  ignorant.  Neither  is  it  the  most 
virtuous  in  any  race  that  deny  all  virtue  in  other  races. 
The  wisest  and  best  of  mankind  have  ever, been  the 
most  philanthropic  and  most  universal  in  their  sym 
pathies.  The  history  of  the  world  furnishes  no 
example  of  a  benefactor  of  mankind  being  a  misan 
thrope,  or  of  a  misanthrope  being  an  intentional 
benefactor.  The  very  best  of  mankind  have  always 
believed  in  justice  for  all.  The  American  colored 
man  is  quite  willing  to  rest  his  case  with  the  civilized 
white  man. 

Sex  and  food  are  probably  the  first  perplexities  of 
human  relationship,  and,  notwithstanding  their  pri 
mary  nature,  are  still  unsolved  problems  of  civiliza 
tion.  Among  all  peoples,  morality  falls  lowest  and 
reason  seems  weakest  on  these  subjects. 

Monogamy  is  only  an  ideal,  not  even  professed, 
much  less  sought  or  understood,  by  the  majority  of 
mankind.  Fair  play  is  but  a  dream  of  culture,  which 
readily  enough  gives  way  in  an  emergency  to  the  so- 
called  law  of  necessity.  Only  insincerity,  insanity,  or 
ignorance  will  claim  that  these  problems  are  peculiar 
to  any  race  or  the  exceptional  phenomena  of  inter 
racial  friction.  The  honest  and  patriotic  people  (and 
there  are  some)  who  claim  that  the  presence  of  the 


Some  Basic  Problems.  75 

colored  people  created  these  problems  for  America  are 
lacking  in  knowledge  of  the  empirical  facts  of  the  situ 
ation,  or  deficient  in  that  historical  perspective  and 
philosophic  insight  necessary  to  the  application  of 
these  facts  to  the  principles  of  human  development. 

To  understand  complex  fractions  one  must  know 
simple  fractions;  to  solve  quadratic  equations  one 
must  understand  the  simple  equations.  The  more 
thoroughly  he  is  grounded  in  the  simpler  operations, 
the  more  readily  will  he  grasp  the  difficulties  of  the 
more  complicated  ones.  So  with  all  the  problems  of 
life — anthropology,  ethnology,  sociology,  and  econom 
ics  form  no  exception.  To  understand  the  relation 
ship  of  the  men  and  women  of  one  race  to  the  men  and 
women  of  another  race,  one  must  have  a  knowledge 
of  the  simpler,  but  more  fundamental  problem  of  in- 
traracial  sexual  relation.  One  cannot  understand  the 
economic  and  moral  relationship  of  cultural  units  to 
each  other  unless  he  have  knowledge  of  the  intraracial 
habits  of  the  different  cultural  units  and  the  simpler 
individual  relationships. 

An  honest  but  unsophisticated  black  man  is 
cheated  by  a  white  man.  He  concludes  rascality  is  one 
of  the  attributes  of  a  white  skin.  An  honest  but  in 
experienced  white  man  has  his  chickens  stolen  by  a 
black  man  and  he  reaches  an  unwarranted  generaliza 
tion  about  colored  people  and  chickens.  Wider  knowl 
edge  would  correct  these  false  conclusions.  An  ex 
perience  or  two  with  a  black  confidence  man  will 
change  t,he  black  man's  mind  on  the  subject  of  a  white 
skin  and  rascality.  Similarly,  the  white  man  would 
be  taught  by  wider  experience  that  the  black  man  was 
not  the  only  one  likely  to  rob  hen-roosts.  Unless  this 
further  enlightenment  comes,  these  experiences  will 
make  these  men  partizan,  prejudiced,  and  bitter. 

That  is  zvhat  is  happening  in  the  South. 


76  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

The  races  know  and  believe  in  the  vices  of  each 
other,  but  do  not  know  or  believe  in  the  virtues  of  each 
other.  The  average  white  Christian  believes  that  the 
colored  man  neither  understands  nor  practises  the  true 
principles  of  Christianity,  and  the  colored  man  knows 
that  the  white  man  so  believes.  But  the  colored  man 
believes  identically  the  same  thing  of  the  white  man, 
and  this  the  white  man  does  not  know.  Yet  neither 
doubts  the  other's  vices.  Further,  the  average  colored 
man  believes  it  impolitic  to  be  manly,  and  dangerous 
to  be  frank  with  white  people.  May  it  not  be  possible 
that  each  race  has  given  the  other  more  evidence  of 
its  vices  than  it  has  of  its  virtues  ?  Each  has  demon 
strated,  to  the  full  satisfaction  of  the  other,  its  guilt  of 
falsehood,  theft,  and  immorality;  but  each  has  failed 
to  impress  upon  the  other  its  love  of  truth,  honesty, 
and  virtue. 

Before  passing  judgment  upon  the  black  man's 
effect  on  the  men,  women,  and  morals  of  the  white 
man,  it  is  but  fair  to  study  these  relations  in  general, 
and  particularly  in  the  white  man  where  the  colored 
man  is  not  present. 

Around  the  sexual  relation  gather  nine-tenths  of 
all  that  men  desire  or  dread.  The  most  intense  and 
pervading  appetite,  animal  or  human,  is  the  sexual 
feeling.  The  keenest  physical  pleasure  and  the  most 
poignant  physical  pain  find  alike  their  origin  here ;  yea, 
man's  mental  gifts  and  spiritual  aspirations  also  center 
here.  Religion  itself  is  closely  akin  if  not  identical 
with  this  passion.  Certainly  they  are  interchangeable ; 
as  anyone  can  prove  to  his  own  satisfaction  by  observ 
ing  people  given  to  extremes  of  each  feeling.  Many 
of  our  artistic  and  sculptural  forms  find  here  their 
first  pattern,  and  phallic  worship  was  possibly  the  first 
religious  ceremony.  "The  fall  of  man"  was  a  perver 
sion  of  this  passion,  and  the  "loss  of  Eden"  resulted 


Some  Basic  Problems.  77 

from  the  effort  of  man  to  enjoy  sexual  pleasure  with 
out  entailing  procreative  responsibility.  Sexual  indul 
gence  without  the  object  or  possibility  of  parenthood 
is  at  once  the  bane  and  abomination  of  civilization. 
Man  has  pitted  his  free-will  against  the  designs  of 
the  Creator,  and,  by  open  rebellion  against  the  laws 
of  his  being,  created  for  himself  the  hell  of  venereal 
disease. 

"Our  earliest  acquaintance  with  the  human  race 
discloses  some  sort  of  society  established.  It  also  re 
veals  the  existence  of  a  marriage  tie,  varying  in  strin 
gency  and  incidental  effects  according  to  climate, 
morals,  religion,  or  accident,  but  everywhere  essen 
tially  subversive  of  a  system  of  promiscuous  inter 
course.  No  nation,  it  is  believed,  has  ever  been 
reported  by  a  trustworthy  traveller,  on  sufficient  evi 
dence,  to  have  held  its  women  generally  in  common. 
Still  there  appears  to  have  been  in  every  age  men 
who  did  not  avail  themselves  of  the  marriage  covenant, 
or  who  could  not  be  bound  by  its  stipulations,  and 
their  appetites  created  a  demand  for  illegitimate  pleas 
ures  which  female  weakness  supplied.  This  may  be 
assumed  to  be  the  real  origin  of  prostitution  through 
out  the  world,  though  in  particular  localities  this  first 
cause  has  been  assisted  by  female  avarice  or  passion, 
religious  superstition  or  a  mistaken  sense  of  hos 
pitality. 

"Accordingly  prostitution  is  coeval  with  society. 
It  stains  the  earliest  mythological  records.  It  is  con 
stantly  assumed  as  an  existing  fact  in  Biblical  history. 
We  can  trace  it  from  the  earliest  twilight  in  which 
history  dawns  to  the  clear  daylight  of  today,  without 
a  pause  or  a  moment  of  obscurity."3 

The  sexual  problem  is  a  human  problem.    In  the 


3  Sanger,  "History  of  Prostitution." 


78  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

sexual  life  it  is  hard  for  man  to  get  away  from  the 
beast.  Read  the  annals  of  the  Jewish  people,  one  of 
the  oldest  and  certainly  one  of  the  noblest,  cultural 
units  of  history;  remember  that  the  idol  worship  they 
so  frequently  preferred  to  the  worship  of  Jehovah  was 
accompanied  by  sexual  orgies. 

The  popular  belief  is  that  sexual  feeling,  especially 
in  women,  is  a  manifestation  of  puberty  only.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  deeply  rooted  in  our  being,  and  is 
probably  congenital. 

Havelock  Ellis  quotes  approvingly  from  the  ex 
perienced  gynecologist,  Braxton  Hicks: — 

"I  venture  to  think,"  Braxton  Hicks  says,  "that 
those  of  my  hearers  who  have  much  attended  to  chil 
dren  will  agree  with  me  in  saying  that,  almost  from 
the  cradle,  a  difference  can  be  seen  in  manner,  habits 
of  mind,  and  in  illness,  requiring  variations  in  their 
treatment.  The  change  is  certainly  hastened  and  in 
tensified  at  the  time  of  puberty;  but  there  is,  even  to 
an  average  observer,  a  clear  difference  between  the 
sexes  from  early  infancy,  gradually  becoming  more 
marked  up  to  puberty.  That  sexual  feelings  exist  (it 
would  be  better  to  say  'may  exist')  from  earliest  in 
fancy  is  well  known,  and  therefore  this  function  does 
not  depend  upon  puberty,  though  intensified  by  it. 
Hence,  may  we  not  conclude  that  the  progress  toward 
development  is  not  so  abrupt  as  has  been  generally 
supposed  ?  The  changes  of  puberty  are  all 

of  them  dependent  on  the  primordial  force,  which, 
gradually  gathering  power,  culminates  in  the  perfec 
tion  both  of  form  and  of  sexual  system,  primary  and 
secondary."4 

That  the  extramarital  and  premarital  sexual  rela 
tion  may  be  a  cult  or  a  custom  is  well  illustrated  by 


4  Ellis,  "Psychology  of  Sex. 


Some  Basic  Problems.  79 

the  following :  "On  the  opposite  side  of  the  Baltic,  in 
the  Konigsberg  district,  the  same  observation  has 
been  made.  Intercourse  before  marriage  is  the  rule 
in  most  villages  of  this  agricultural  district,  among 
the  working  classes,  with  or  without  intention  of  sub 
sequent  marriage.  'The  girls  are  often  the  seducing 
parties,  or  at  least  very  willing;  they  seek  to  bind  their 
lovers  to  them  and  compel  them  to  marriage/  In  the 
Koslin  district  of  Pomerania,  where  the  intercourse 
between  the  girls  and  youths  is  common,  the  girls 
come  to  the  youths'  rooms  even  more  frequently  than 
the  youths  to  the  girls.  In  some  of  the  Dantzig  dis 
tricts  the  girls  give  themselves  to  the  youths,  and  even 
seduce  them,  sometimes,  but  not  always,  with  a  view  to 
marriage."5 

In  some  places  in  Europe  "Christians  worshipped 
in  a  state  of  nudity,  and  accompanied  prayers  with 
promiscuous  intercourse."  St.  Crysostum  complains 
that  in  places  he  designates,  "women  were  baptized  in 
a  state  of  nature,  without  even  being  permitted  to 
veil  their  sex." 

"It  is  unquestionable,  however,  that  the  author  of 
the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  lived  in  incestuous 
intercourse  with  his  sister  Margaret,  and  there  seems 
no  reason  to  doubt  the  truth  of  the  story  that  Cather 
ine  more  than  once  entertained  the  king  and  court  at 
a  banquet  at  which  nude  females  served  as  waiters." 

"Perhaps  the  best  idea  of  the  morals  of  the  time 
can  be  obtained  from  the  adventures  of  the  Margaret 
just  mentioned,  who  married  Henry  IV,  King  of 
Navarre,  and  afterward  King  of  France.  It  is 
said  that  at  the  age  of  n  she  had  two  lovers, 
both  of  whom  claimed  to  have  robbed  her  of  her 
virtue. 


^  Ibid. 


80  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

"He  (the  king)  changed  his  mistress  once  a  month 
at  least."  (Sanger.) 

"Again  turning  to  the  pages  of  Fiducin,  we  find 
that,  'in  all  the  great  towns  of  the  German  Empire, 
the  public  protection  of  women  of  pleasure  (lust 
dirnen)  seems  to  have  been  a  regular  thing/  in  proof 
of  which  he  says :  'Did  a  creditor,  in  taking  proceed 
ings  against  a  debtor,  find  it  necessary  to  put  up  at  an 
inn,  one  of  the  allowed  items  of  his  expenditure  was 
a  reasonable  sum  for  the  company  of  a  woman  during 
his  stay  (frugen  geld).'  This  was  a  question  of  State 
Etiquette  in  Berlin  in  1410,  a  sum  having  been 
officially  expended  in  that  year  to  retain  some  hand 
some  woman  to  grace  a  public  festival  and  banquet 
given  to  a  distinguished  guest,  Diedrich  von  Quitzow, 
whose  good-will  the  citizens  desired  to  cultivate."6 

As  an  evidence  that  the  presence  of  the  Negro  is 
not  the  cause  of  sexual  excesses  and  bacchanalian 
orgies,  I  quote  from  the  work  called  "Berlin,"  by  Dr. 
Sass,  a  description  of  the  Tans  Wirthschaften 
(dancing-houses) : — 

"The  dance  is  carried  to  its  wildest  excess,  to  ear- 
splitting  music  in  a  pestilential  atmosphere.  The 
poor  are  extravagant;  drunkenness  and  profligacy 
abound.  Servants  of  both  sexes,  soldiers  and  journey 
men,  workwomen  and  prostitutes  make  up  the  public. 
Here,  on  the  most  frivolous  pretenses,  concubinage 
and  marriage  are  arranged,  and  from  this  scene  of 
folly  and  vice  the  family  is  ushered  into  the  world. 
The  wet-nurse  is  met  here,  'the  type  of  country-girl 
simplicity/  who  after  a  night  of  tumult  and  uproar 
with  her  lover  will  go  in  the  morning  to  nurse  the 
child  whose  mother  neglects  her  parental  duties  at  the 
dictates  of  fashion.  The  working  classes  have  their 


6  Sanger,  "History  of  Prostitution." 


Some  Basic  Problems.  81 

representatives,  who  drown  their  cares  in  drink,  while 
boys  and  girls  make  up  the  motley  party.  In  these 
assemblies  there  is  a  difference.  Some  are  attended 
by  the  citizens  of  the  humbler  classes,  by  working 
men  and  women;  others  by  criminals  and  their  par 
amours.  In  these  latter  resorts  the  excesses  are  of  a 
more  frightful  character  than  in  those  where  a  show 
of  decency  restrains  the  grosser  exhibitions ;  youth  of 
both  sexes  are  among  the  well-known  criminals,  who 
are  habituated  to  drinking,  smoking,  and  the  wildest 
orgies,  long  before  their  frames  have  attained  proper 
development.  Physiognomies  which  might  have 
sprung  from'  the  most  hideous  fancy  of  poet  or  painter 
may  be  met  with." 

Again  quoting  from  Dr.  Sass's  work  we  get  the 
following  description  of  private  life  in  Berlin: — 

"Let  us  enter  the  house.  The  first  floor  is  in 
habited  by  a  family  of  distinction;  husband  and  wife 
have  been  separated  for  years;  he  lives  on  one  side, 
she  on  the  other;  both  go  out  in  public  together;  the 
proprieties  are  kept  in  view,  but  servants  will  chatter. 
On  the  second  floor  lives  an  assessor  with  his  kept 
woman.  When  he  is  out  of  town,  as  the  house  is  well 
aware,  a  doctor  pays  her  a  visit.  On  the  other  side  of 
the  staircase  lives  a  carrier  with  his  wife  and  child. 
The  wife  had  not  mentioned  that  this  child  was  born 
before  marriage;  he  found  it  out;  of  course,  they 
quarreled,  and  now  he  takes  his  revenge  in  drunken 
ness,  blows,  and  abuse.  We  ascend  to  the  third  floor. 
On  the  right  of  the  stairs  is  a  teacher  who  has  had  a 
child  by  his  wife's  sister ;  the  wife  grieves  sorely  over 
the  same.  With  him  lodges  a  house-painter  who  ran 
away  from  his  wife  and  three  children,  and  now  lives, 
with  his  concubine  and  one  child,  in  a  wretched  little 
cupboard.  On  the  left  is  a  letter-carrier's  family. 
His  pay  is  fifteen  thalers  (twelve  dollars)  a  month. 


82  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

but  the  people  seem  very  comfortable.  Their  daughter 
has  a  very  nice  front  room,  well  furnised,  and  is  kept 
by  a  very  wealthy  merchant,  a  married  man.  Exactly 
opposite  there  is  a  house  of  accommodation,  and  close 
by  there  is  a  midwife,  whose  sign  board  announces  'an 
institute  for  ladies  of  condition  where  they  can  go 
through  their  confinement  in  retirement/  I  can 
assure  the  reader  that  in  this  sketch  of  sexual  and 
family  life  in  Berlin,  I  have  nothing  extenuated,  nor 
set  down  aught  in  malice/' 

This  is  a  clean,  modern,  moral  city,  one  of  the  very 
best  that  European  civilization  affords,  and  all 
Caucasians,  too. 

Dr.  Sanger  says :  "In  London  this  system  of  close 
lodging  was  carried  to  a  fearful  pitch.  In  some  places 
from  five  to  thirteen  persons  slept  in  a  single  bed, 
while  in  the  country  the  evil  was  nearly  as  bad; 
although,  from  the  slight  restraint  imposed  by  family 
ties,  the  actual  evil  is  positively  less,  though  the  moral 
contamination  is  of  nearly  the  same  extent,  and  paves 
the  way  for  other  relations  out  of  doors.  The  facts 
which  justify  these  conclusions  are  to  be  found  in  a 
variety  of  shapes — parliamentary  reports,  statistical 
tables,  appeals  from  clergymen,  addresses  from  phil 
anthropic  associations,  etc." 

He  also  quotes  from  the  Honorable  and  Reverend 
S.  O.  Osborne,  the  description  of  country  life  in 
England : — 

"From  infancy  to  puberty  the  laborer's  children 
sleep  in  the  room  with  his  wife  and  himself ;  and  what 
ever  attempts  at  decency  may  be  made,  and  I  have 
seen  many  ingenious  and  praiseworthy  attempts,  still 
there  is  the  fact  of  the  old  and  the  young,  married  and 
unmarried,  of  both  sexes,  all  herded  together  in  one 
and  the  same  sleeping-apartment.  .  .  I  do  not 

choose  to  put  on  paper  the  disgusting  scenes  that  I 


Some  Basic  Problems.  83 

have  known  to  occur  from  the  promiscuous  crowding 
of  the  sexes  together.  Seeing,  however,  to  what  the 
mind  of  the  young  female  is  exposed  from  her  very 
childhood,  I  have  long  ceased  to  wonder  at  the  other 
wise  seeming  precocious  licentiousness  of  conversation 
which  may  be  heard  in  every  field  where  many  of  the 
young  are  at  work  together." 

In  Europe  under  the  feudal  system,  "the  king 
claimed  the  disposal  of  the  hands  and  fortunes  of 
heiresses;  the  barons  claimed  a  still  greater  privilege 
from  their  tenants.  In  some  localities  the  feudal  lord 
insisted  upon  enjoying  the  person  of  one  of  the  daugh 
ters  of  each  tenant  who  happened  to  be  blessed  with  a 
plurality  of  them.  He  returned  her  to  her  parents 
within  a  given  time."  (Sanger.) 

"Every  Babylonian  female  was  obliged  by  law  to 
prostitute  herself  once  in  her  life  in  the  temple  of  the 
Chaldean  Venus,  whose  name  was  Mylitta. 

"The  Mylitta  of  Chaldea  became  Astarte  in 
Phoenicia,  at  Carthage,  and  in  Syria.  Nothing  was 
changed  but  the  name;  the  voluptuous  rites  were 
identical." 

The  Negroes  of  Africa  were  not  the  only  ones  who 
had  sexual  initiation  for  women.  Among  the  Athe 
nians,  "The  legal  principle  with  regard  to  the  dicteri- 
ades  appears  to  have  been  that  they  should  conceal 
nothing;  no  doubt  in  contrast  to  the  regular  prosti 
tutes.  .  .  .  There  was  no  rule,  however,  for 
bidding  the  wearing  of  garments  in  the  dicterion,  but 
the  common  practice  appears  to  have  been  to  dispense 
with  them,  or  to  wear  a  light  scarf  thrown  over  the 
person.  .  .  .  There  appears  to  have  been  at 
tached  to  these  dicteria,  schools  of  prostitution,  where 
young  women  were  initiated  into  the  most  disgusting 
practices  by  females  who  had  themselves  acquired 
them  in  the  same  manner." 


84  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

"In  most  of  the  nations  prostitutes  figured  as 
pariahs;  in  Greece  they  were  an  aristocracy,  exercis 
ing  a  palpable  influence  over  the  national  policy  and 
social  life,  and  mingling  conspicuously  in  the  great 
inarch  of  the  Greek  intellect.  No  less  than  eleven 
authors  of  repute  have  employed  their  talents  as  his 
toriographers  of  courtesans  at  Athens.  Their  works 
have  not  reached  us  entire,  having  fallen  victims  to  the 
chaste  scruples  of  the  clergy  of  the  Middle  Ages ;  but 
enough  remains  in  the  quotations  of  Athaeneus,  Alci- 
phron's  Letters,  Lucian,  Diogenes,  Laetius,  Aristo 
phanes,  Aristaenetus,  and  others  to  enable  us  to  form 
a  far  more  accurate  idea  of  the  Athenian  hetaine  than 
we  can  obtain  of  the  prostitution  of  the  last  generation. 

"Into  the  arts  practised  by  the  graduates  of  the 
Corinthian  Academies  it  is  hardly  possible  to  enter,  at 
least  in  a  modern  tongue.  .  .  .  One  may  form 
an  idea  of  the  shocking  depravity  of  the  reigning 
tastes  from  the  sneers  which  were  lavished  upon 
Phryne  and  Bacchus,  who  steadily  adhered  to  natural 
pleasures." 

"To  judge  from  the  Etruscan  paintings,  the  morals 
of  the  indigenous  Italians  must  have  been  disgustingly 
depraved." 

"Floralian  Games.  .  .  .  It  is  certain  the 
chief  attraction  of  these  infamous  celebrations  was  the 
appearance  of  prostitutes  on  the  stage  in  a  state  of 
nudity,  and  their  lascivious  dances  in  the  presence  of 
the  people."  . 

"Cato  cohabited  with  a  female  slave." 

"Clodius,  the  all-powerful  tribune,  is  accused  by 
Cicero  of  having  seduced  his  three  sisters." 

"One  is  appalled  at  the  great  variety  of  classes  into 
which  by  the  Roman  law  prostibulae,  or  unregistered 
prostitutes,  were  divided.  Such  were  the  Delicate?,  cor 
responding  to  the  kept  woman,  or  the  French  lorettes, 


Some  Basic  Problems.  85 

whose  charms  enabled  them  to  exact  large  sums  from 
their  visitors;  the  Famosce,  who  belonged  to  respect 
able  families  and  took  to  evil  courses  through  their 
lust  or  avarice;  the  Doris,  who  were  remarkable  for 
their  beauty  of  form,  and  disdained  the  use  of  cloth 
ing;  the  Lup®,  or  she  wolves,  who  haunted  the  groves 
and  commons,  and  were  distinguished  by  a  peculiar 
cry  in  imitation  of  the  wolf;  the  ^Elicarice,  or  bakers' 
girls,  who  sold  small  cakes  for  sacrifice  to  Venus  and 
Priapus,  in  the  form  of  the  male  and  female  organs  of 
generation ;  the  Bustuarice,  whose  home  was  the  burial 
ground  and  who  occasionally  officiated  as  mourners  at 
funerals ;  the  Copa,  servant-girls  at  inns  and  taverns3 
who  were  invariably  prostitutes;  the  Noctilu&f  or 
night  walkers ;  the  Blitid&j  a  very  low  class  of  women, 
who  derived  the  name  from  blitum,  a  cheap  and  un 
wholesome  beverage  drunk  in  the  lowest  holes;  the 
DiobolareSj  wretched  outcasts,  whose  price  was  two 
oboli  (say  two  cents)  ;  the  Forarice,  country  girls  who 
lurked  about  country  roads;  the  Gallince,  who  were 
thieves  as  well  as  prostitutes;  the  Quadrantarice, 
seemingly  the  lowest  class  of  all,  whose  fee  was  less 
than  any  copper  coin  now  current.  In  contradistinc 
tion  to  these,  the  meretrices  assumed  an  air  of  respect 
ability,  and  were  often  called  bones  meretrices." 

Though  the  Roman  law  regulated  the  dress  of 
prostitutes,  "nudity  appears  to  have  been  quite  com 
mon,  if  not  the  rule.  .  .  .  Others,  however,  pre 
ferred  the  silk  and  gauze  dresses  of  the  East,  which, 
according  to  the  expression  of  a  classical  writer, 
'seemed  invented  to  exhibit  more  conspicuously  what 
they  were  intended  to  hide/ 

"Add  to  these  causes  of  immorality  the  baths,  and 
a  fair  case  in  the  support  of  Juvenal  will  be  already 
made  out.  A  young  Roman  girl  with  warm  southern 
blood  in  her  veins,  who  could  gaze  on  the  unveiled  pic- 


86  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

tures  of  the  loves  of  Venus,  read  the  shameful  epi 
grams  of  Martial,  or  the  burning  love-songs  of  Catul 
lus,  go  to  the  baths  and  see  the  nudity  of  scores  of 
men  and  women,  be  touched  herself  by  a  hundred  lewd 
hands,  as  well  as  those  of  the  bathers  who  rubbed  her 
dry  and  kneaded  her  limbs — a  young  girl  who  could 
withstand  such  experiences  and  remain  virtuous  would 
need,  indeed,  to  be  a  miracle  of  principle  and  strength 
of  mind." 

Once  a  year,  at  the  Lupercalia,  she  saw  young  men 
running  naked  through  the  streets,  armed  with 
thongs  with  which  they  struck  every  woman  they  saw ; 
and  she  noticed  that  the  matrons  courted  this  flagella 
tion  as  a  means  of  becoming  prolific." 

"The  author  does  not  seem  to  admit  the  possibility 
of  virtue's  existence;  all  his  men  and  women  are 
equally  vicious  and  shameless." 

"The  Egyptian  and  Ionian  dancing  girls  stripped 
themselves,  or  donned  the  nebula  linea.  No  English 
words  can  picture  the  monstrosities  which  are  calmly 
narrated  in  the  pages  of  Petronius  and  Martial." 

The  conjure  bag  and  the  love  powders,  so  dear  to 
the  African  heart,  are  not  peculiar  to  him. 

"The  use  of  philtres,  or  charms,  was  common  in 
Greece.  Retired  courtesans  often  combined  the  manu 
facture  of  these  supposed  charms  with  the  business  of 
a  midwife.  They  made  potions  which  excited  love, 
and  potions  which  destroyed  it;  charms  to  turn  love 
into  hate,  and  others  to  convert  hate  into  love.  That 
the  efficacy  of  the  latter  must  have  been  a  matter  of 
pure  faith  need  not  be  demonstrated,  though  the  be 
lief  in  them  was  general  and  profound.  The  former 
are  well  known  in  the  Pharmacopoeia,  and  from  the 
accounts  given  of  their  effects  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  they  were  successfully  employed  in  Greece, 
as  well  by  jealous  husbands  and  suspicious  fathers 


Some  Basic  Problems.  87 

as  by  ardent  lovers.  A  case  is  mentioned,  by  no  less 
an  authority  than  Aristotle,  of  a  woman  who  contrived 
to  administer  an  amorous  potion  to  her  lover,  who 
died  of  it.  The  woman  was  tried  for  murder;  but  it 
being  satisfactorily  proved  that  her  intention  was  not 
to  cause  death,  but  revive  an  extinct  love,  she  was 
acquitted.  Other  cases  are  mentioned  in  which  the 
philtres  produced  madness  instead  of  love.  Similar 
accidents  have  attended  the  exhibition  of  cantharides 
in  modern  times." 

I  close  these  descriptions  with  a  citation  from 
Juvenal,  which  for  good  reasons  I  leave  in  the  Latin 
tongue : — 

"Dormire  virum  quum  senserat  uxor, 
fAusa  Palatine  tegetem  prseferre  cubili, 
Sumere  nocturnas  meretrix  Augesta  cucullos, 
Linquebat  comite  ancilla  non  amplius  una, 
Sed  nigrum  flavo  crinem  abscondente  galero, 
Intravit  calidum  veteri  centone  lupetiar, 
Et  cellam  vacuam  atque  suam.    Tune  nudacapillis 
Constitit  auratis,  titulum  mentita  Lyciscse, 
Ostendit  que  tuum,  generose  Britannice,  ventrem. 
Excepit  blanda  intrantes,  atque  aera  poposcit, 
Et  resupina  jacens  multorum  absorbuit  ictus. 
Mox  lenone  suas  jam  dimittente  puellas, 
Tristris  abit,  et  quod  potuit,  tamen  ultima  cellam 
Clausit,  adhuc  ardens  rigidse  tentigine  vulvse, 
Et  lassata  viris  necdurn  satiata  recessit; 
Obscurrisque  genis  turpis  fomoque  lucernse 
Foeda  lupanaris  tulit  ad  pulvinar  adorem." 

"Babylon,  Carthage,  Greece,  Rome,  and  all  the 
older  civilizations  have  had  their  periods  when  female 
virtue  was  a  matter  of  laughter,  when  women  outvied 
the  men  in  their  moral  degradation,  when  evil  seemed 
triumphant  everywhere." 


88  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

These  extracts  could  be  indefinitely  increased  by 
illustration  of  the  burnings  at  the  stake  in  Queen 
Mary's  time  of  Catholic  efforts  to  restrain  heresy,  or 
the  disembowelings  of  Elizabeth's  time  of  protestant 
efforts  to  discourage  papal  error,  or  of  Catherine  of 
Russia's  vindication  of  her  artistic  temperament  by 
human  statuary;  but  enough  has  been  said  to  show 
that  the  presence  of  the  black  man  is  not  necessary  to 
the  cruelty,  immorality,  and  savagery  of  the  white 
man. 

I  have  purposely  drawn  my  illustrations  from 
the  boasted  "background  of  European  culture,"  but 
could  have  found  plenty  of  material  right  here  in 
the  United  States  of  America  to  show  that  the 
economical  and  moral  troubles  of  this  country  are 
quite  independent  of  the  Negro's  presence.  The 
Anthracite  Coal  Miners'  strike  in  Pennsylvania,  the 
Miners'  trouble  in  Colorado,  and  the  Iron  Workers' 
difficulties  in  California  and  Indiana  are  illustrations 
from  the  field  of  economics ;  and  the  moral  atmosphere 
is  surcharged  with  a  "cloud  of  witnesses."  The  execu 
tion  out  west  of  a  divinity  student* for  murdering 
young  women  in  a  church;  ditto  a  Baptist  divine  in 
New  England  for  seducing  and  poisoning  young 
women ;  ditto  a  Catholic  priest  in  New  York,  for  seek 
ing  by  death,  dissection,  and  dismemberment  to  hide 
immoralities ;  all  are  events  too  recent  to  need  descrip 
tion.  The  wholesale  debauchery  of  the  electorate  in 
an  Ohio  county  and  the  bitter  charges  and  recrimina 
tions  growing  out  of  recent  Democratic  primaries  in 
the  South  are  moral  evidences  of  the  white  man's 
ability  to  sin  without  the  black  man's  assistance.  But, 
enough.  The  problems  of  sex  and  food  are  world 
wide  and  limited  to  no  race. 

The  white  people  of  the  South  are  as  upright:  in 
their  sexual  and  social  relations  as  any  people  on 


Some  Basic  Problems.  89 

earth,  and  the  virtue  of  white  women  is  safer  here  than 
in  any  other  part  of  the  civilized  world. 

"Figures  show  that  commitments  for  rape  are,  per 
thousand  of  the  population,  less  for  colored  than  for 
white."  I  have  seen  the  statement,  but  cannot  now 
verify  it,  that  "more  white  men  in  the  city  of  Chicago 
are  charged  with  rape  in  a  year  than  black  men  in  the 
entire  South." 

Sir  Harry  Johnston,  who  is  so  often  quoted 
against  the  colored  man,  says  on  this  subject:  "There 
is,  I  am  convinced,  a  deliberate  tendency  in  the  South 
ern  States  to  exaggerate  the  desire  of  the  Negro  for  a 
sexual  union  with  white  women,  and  the  crimes  he 
may  commit  under  this  impulse.  A  few  exceptional 
Negroes  in  West  and  South  Africa,  and  in  America, 
are  attracted  toward  a  white  consort,  but  almost  in 
variably  for  honest  and  pure-minded  reasons,  because 
of  some  intellectual  affinity  or  sympathy.  The  mass 
of  the  race,  if  left  free  to  choose,  would  prefer  to  mate 
with  women  of  its  own  type.  When  cases  have  oc 
curred  in  the  history  of  South  Africa,  Southwest, 
East,  and  Central  Africa,  of  some  great  Negro  up 
rising,  and  the  wives  and  daughters  of  officials,  mis 
sionaries  and  settlers  have  been  temporarily  at  the 
mercy  of  a  Negro  army,  or  in  the  power  of  a  Negro 
chief,  how  extremely  rare  are  the  proved  cases  of  any 
sexual  abuse  arising  from  this  circumstance!  How 
infinitely  rarer  than  the  prostitution  of  Negro  women 
following  on  some  great  conquest  of  the  whites,  or  of 
their  black  or  yellow  allies !  I  know  that  the  contrary 
has  been  freely  alleged  and  falsely  stated  in  histories 
of  African  events ;  but  when  the  facts  have  been  really 
investigated,  it  is  little  else  than  astonishing  that  the 
Negro  has  either  had  too  great  racial  sense  of  decency 
or  too  little  liking  for  the  white  women  (I  believe  it 
to  be  the  former  rather  than  the  latter)  to  outrage  the 


90  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

unhappy  white  women  and  girls  temporarily  in  his 
power.  He  may  have  dashed  out  the  brains  of  the 
white  babies  against  a  stone,  have  even  killed,  pos 
sibly,  their  mothers,  or  taken  them  and  the  unmarried 
girls  as  hostages  into  the  harem  of  a  chief  (where  no 
attempt  whatever  has  been  made  on  their  virtue),  but 
in  the  history  of  the  various  Kaffir  wars  it  is  remark 
able  how  in  the  majority  of  cases  the  wives  and  daugh 
ters  of  the  British,  the  Boers,  and  the  Germans,  after 
the  slaughter  of  their  male  relations,  were  sent  back 
unharmed  to  white  territory. 

"I  do  not  believe,  as  already  stated,  that  there  is 
any  inherent  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  Negro  in 
America  or  Africa  to  dishonor  the  white  woman; 
rather  the  contrary.  I  have  already  quoted  the  fact 
that  in  the  most  densely  "Black"  parts  of  the  United 
States  white  women  can  live  alone  in  perfect  safety. 
There  is  not  a  complete  absence  of  danger  to  lonely 
white  women  and  girls  anywhere  in  the  United  States 
(or  in  many  parts  of  England,  Germany,  and  France), 
but  the  danger  may  arise  even  more  frequently  from 
white  tramps  and  social  outcasts  than  from  Negroes." 

Another  English  observer,  Mr.  Archer,  who  is  also 
frequently  quoted  against  the  Afro- American,  says  on 
this  subject:  "It  is  a  hard  thing  to  say,  but  I  have 
little  doubt  it  is  true,  that  much  of  the  injustice  and 
cruelty  to  which  the  Negro  is  subjected  in  the  South  is 
a  revenge,  not  so  much  for  sexual  crime  on  the 
Negro's  part,  as  for  an  uneasy  conscience  or  con 
sciousness  on  the  part  of  the  whites/' 

Mr.  E.  G.  Murphy,  himself  a  cultured  Southerner, 
a  believer  in  race  inequality,  but  not  injustice,  says 
("Basis  of  Ascendency") :  "Much  of  the  South's  talk 
against  the  Negro  has  therefore  been  the  South  talk 
ing  to  itself ;  it  has  been  its  rebuke,  by  implication,  of 
those  corrupting  elements  within  the  limits  of  its  own 


Some  Basic  Problems.  91 

life  which  answer  to  no  high  policy  of  social  respect, 
to  no  fine  purpose  of  racial  conservation,  but  which, 
under  the  lowest  impulses,  would  degrade  the  present 
and  betray  the  future." 

The  average  Southern  white  woman  is  neither 
afraid  of  a  colored  man  nor  nervous  over  his  presence. 
She  has  only  to  command  to  be  obeyed.  Instinct,  cus 
tom,  and  a  sense  of  self-preservation  make  this  so ;  to 
say  nothing  of  the  colored  man's  innate  kindliness  and 
almost  frantic  desire  for  the  white  man's  approbation. 
Whatever  the  past  history  of  the  South  or  its  future 
fate,  today,  1915,  the  white  inhabitants  are  not  degen 
erates  nor  are  the  colored  inhabitants  savages. 

These  colored  people  are  the  grandchildren  of  a 
generation  whose  sufferings  won  the  sympathy  that 
brought  freedom,  whose  moderation  produced  a  toler 
ance  that  brought  peace,  and  whose  industry  made  a 
co-operation  that  brought  wealth;  a  generation  that 
was  a  blessing  to  this  country  and  an  asset  to  civiliza 
tion.  Whatever  justification  slavery  may  find  in  the 
heathenism  of  Africa,  freedom  finds  its  justification  in 
the  civilization  of  America.  Whatever  the  social  con 
ditions  of  the  victims  of  African  slave-trade,  the 
beneficiaries  of  Lincoln's  immortal  edict  were  civilised 
Christians  whose  faithfulness  in  slavery  justified  their 
emancipation. 

History  furnishes  no  illustration  of  a  generation  of 
people  more  entitled  to  be  called  civilized  than  these 
men  and  women  who,  in  January,  1863,  wept  and  sang, 

"Thank  God  Almighty, 
I'm  free  at  last." 

I  call  upon  every  Confederate  soldier,  living  or 
dead,  to  testify  as  a  character  witness  for  the  people  of 
whom  I  speak.  I  call  upon  every  mistress  of  a  plan- 


92  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

tation  from  the  shifting  sands  of  the  Rio  Grande  to 
the  blood-stained  shores  of  the  storied  Potomac,  to 
speak  for  the  fidelity,  self-restraint,  and  industry 
of  this  unique  generation.  Well  might  the  "black 
mammy"  be  enshrined  in  the  affections  of  the  South 
ern  white  people  who  saw  "the  tramping  of  the  vin 
tage  where  the  grapes  of  wrath  were  stored !"  These 
black  "mammies"  were  the  mothers  of  as  deserving  a 
race  of  men  as  ever  endured  the  lash  of  oppression  or 
met  the  shock  of  battle. 

Grecian  slaves  in  battle  array  were  vanquished  by 
their  masters  with  whips,  but  the  54th  Massachusetts 
crossed  the  bloody  sands  of  Ft.  Wagner,  climbed  the 
belching  ramparts,  endured  the  awful  intimacy  of  the 
bayonet's  charge,  and  felt  the  terrifying  thrill  of  the 
cannon's  death-dealing  voice,  retired  in  good  order, 

and 

"The  Old  Flag  never  touched  the  ground." 

In  the  day  of  battle  they  were  brave  and  in  the 
night  of  temptation  they  were  true.  Woe  worth  the 
policy,  woe  worth  the  day  that  would  estrange  the 
South  from  the  descendants  of  this  generation !  Fix 
the  thought  firmly  in  your  minds  that  the  Afro- 
American  was  a  civilised  Christian,  baptized  with 
blood  and  tried  with  fire,  when  he  became  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States! 

Whatever  its  barbarities  and  tragedies,  a  social 
system  that  inspired  such  songs  as  "My  Old  Kentucky 
Home,"  "Swanee  River,"  "Old  Black  Joe,"  and 
"Massa's  in  de  Col'  Col'  Groun'  '  could  exist  only 
among  civilized  people.  This  civilization  which  stood 
four  years  of  war  with  less  brutality  than  Europe  has 
shown  in  as  many  months,  will  be  strong  enough  to 
eliminate  criminal  men,  soothe  nervous  women,  and 
relegate  ambitious  politicians  whose  self-seeking  has 


So  me  Basic  Problems.  93 

complicated  with  passion  a  situation  that  needed  only 
calmness  of  reason  and  the  fairness  of  justice. 

Such  information  as  I  now  possess  of  the  sciences 
of  Anthropology,  Physiology,  Anatomy,  Ethnology, 
Psychology,  Medicine  and  Organic  Evolution,7  His 
tory,  and  Geography,  brightened  by  experience,  but 
not  clouded  by  sympathy,  leads  me  to  believe  that  the 
Golden  Age  of  Civilization  and  human  achievement 
will  find  fruition  in  the  Mississippi  Valley! 


7  Shufeldt. 


"The  thing  that  gets  fed  when  you  are  success 
ful  is  your  personal  vanity,  and  the  thing  that  gets 
starved  when  you're  not  successful  is  your  self-re 
spect.  And  the  temptation  to  go  wrong  is  always 
strongest  when  you  happen  to  have  the  least  to 
resist  with." 

"Liberality,  courtesy,  benevolence,  unselfishness, 
under  all  circumstances  and  toward  all  men — these 
qualities  are  to  the  world  what  a  linchpin  is  to  a 
rolling  chariot." — BUDDHA. 


(94) 


CHAPTER  V. 

DARK  PAGES  IN  THE  WHITE  MAN'S  CIVILIZATION. 

IN  the  preceding  chapter  I  have  shown  that  the 
physiological  problems  of  sex  and  the  sociological 
problems  of  slums  were  not  created  nor  were  they 
intensified  by  the  presence  of  colored  people.  Prosti 
tution  is  coeval  with  society.  Sexual  orgies  have 
accompanied  humanity  wherever  crowded  together; 
in  Palestine,  in  Egypt,  in  Greece,  in  Berlin,  in  London, 
in  New  York  it  is  the  same,  whether  the  inhabitants 
are  Caucasian  or  Negro.  I  now  propose  to  show  that 
the  struggle  for  existence  presents  all  the  barbarities 
among  Caucasian  people  that  it  does  among  the  darker 
races..  There  are  dark  pages  in  human  history,  black 
and  white.  "Esquimaux  and  Australians,  Negroes 
and  Scotch  Highlanders  of  former  days,  ancient 
Japanese  and  Hindoos,  Polynesians  and  early  Greeks, 
—all  these  appear  side  by  side,  in  such  comparative 
studies  of  the  primitive  mind  of  man,  side  by  side  as 
brothers  in  error  and  in  ignorance,  so  soon  as  you 
proceed  to  study  by  the  comparative  method  their 
early  magic,  their  old  beliefs,  their  early  customs." 
(Josiah  Royce,  "Race  Questions  and  Other  Ameri 
can  Problems.") 

I. — SLAVERY. 

It  is  often  charged  that  the  colored  man  is  the 
cause  as  well  as  the  victim  of  the  white  man's  cruelty. 
It  is  not  true.  I  can  establish  an  alibi.  Nature  is  im 
partial,  but  some  fare  worse  than  others.  The  spirit 
that  established  the  slave-trade  across  the  Atlantic  and 
planted  the  Negro  in  America  played  no  favorites, 
but  devoured  wherever  lust  of  power  and  greed  of 
pelf  saw  promise  of  gratification  or  gain. 

(95) 


96  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

"Need  I  be  the  Nemesis  to  remind  my  Christian 
countrymen,"  says  a  learned  Scotsman,  "that  the  sale 
of  English  men  and  women  to  the  American  planta 
tion  went  on  lucratively  during  the  reign  of  the  first 
three  Georges,  and  that  in  Scotland  there  were  slaves 
down  till  the  beginning  of  the  present  century?  Are 
the  Lowland  Scots  of  an  inferior  race?  Are  they  the 
product  of  an  undeveloped  civilization  ?  Are  they  not 
Christians  ? 

"Well,  not  in  the  dim  and  distant  ages,  but 
in  the  latter  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  there 
were  hundreds  of  Scotsmen,  mixed  up  with  Negroes, 
doing  the  work  of  beasts,  and  reddening  the  lash  of 
their  drivers  with  the  hero-blood  that  won  Bannock- 
burn  Moor  and  glowed  in  the  gules  of  glory  on  the 
tragic  slopes  of  Flodden  Hill.  .  .  .  You  sold 
the  Lowland  Scots,  whom  the  naked  truth,  apart  from 
patriotism,  compels  me  to  claim  as,  take  them  for  all 
in  all,  the  finest  race  that  exists  under  the  circuit  of 
the  heaven.  They  have  their  faults;  but  a  little  tract 
that  has  not,  and  never  had,  two  millions  of  population 
all  told,  and  yet  had  produced  a  Wallace,  a  Burns,  a 
Scott,  and  a  Carlyle,  and  scores  of  stars  which  in  the 
firmament  of  history  can  never  set,  is  no  common 
corner  of  the  world,  but  is  a  land  of  which  Man  may 
be  proud  and  of  which  God  has  no  cause  to  be 
ashamed. 

"And  yet,  only  two  hundred  years  ago,  the  Low 
lands  of  Scotland  were  a  hunting  ground  for  slaves. 
Who  hunted  the  slaves?  Christians.  Who  were  the 
slaves?  Christians.  In  the  American  plantations, 
along  with  Negroes  from  Coromandel  and  Mozam 
bique,  the  Scotsman  of  Ayrshire  and  Galloway  toiled 
under  the  conditions  of  the  most  degraded  slavery. 

"At  the  battle  of  Bothwell  Brig,  when,  for  lack 
of  gunpowder  on  their  part,  the  Covenanters  were 


Dark  Pages  in   White  Civilization.  97 

compelled  to  allow  the  royal  forces  to  cross  the  Clyde, 
there  was  no  longer  a  battle ;  there  was  only  a  ruthless 
massacre.  .  .  .  Many  were  cut  down  in  flight. 
Many  were  slaughtered  where  they  stood,  quoting 
their  text  or  singing  their  psalm,  determined  to  give 
their  lives  as  an  evidence  that  they  had  never  retreated 
an  inch  before  the  Man  of  Sin  and  the  hosts  of  Belial. 
But  the  sword  grew  sick  of  massacre,  and  a  large 
number  of  the  insurgents  were  made  prisoners  and 
marched  off  to  Edinburgh,  where,  there  being  no  gaol 
accommodation  for  them,  they  were  driven  into  Grey- 
friars'  Churchyard.  There  in  the  open  air,  exposed 
to  semistarvation  and  all  the  inclemency  of  the  season, 
they  remained  for  well-nigh  five  months,  the  slightest 
attempt  to  escape  being  met  by  a  volley  of  musketry. 

"Demented  by  privation  and  'religion/  some  went 
raving  mad,  some  tried  to  escape,  or  were  supposed  to 
have  tried  to  escape,  and  were  shot,  and  some  died  of 
wounds  and  disease;  but,  when  five  months  had  ex 
pired,  there  were  two  hundred  and  fifty-seven  of  them 
still  alive, — the  skeletons  and  wrecks  of  brave  and 
manly  men,  who,  whatever  were  their  follies  and 
errors,  had  the  courage  of  their  convictions,  and,  un- 
drilled  peasants  as  they  were,  had  dared  on  the  battle 
field  to  try  the  issue  against  the  British  crown.  The 
two  hundred  and  fifty-seven  of  them  who  had  been 
possessed  of  youth  and  a  strength  and  constitution  of 
iron  were  still  alive.  What  was  to  be  done  with  them  ? 
Why  spend  money  on  the  wretched  crusts  which  were 
flung  to  them  daily — why  waste  powder  in  shooting 
them?  This  remnant  of  Bothwell  Brig  had  a  money 
value.  These  servants  of  God,  by  other  servants  of 
the  same  God,  could  be  offered  up  on  the  altar  of 
Mammon.  They  were  bargained  over  to  a  holy  man, 
William  Paterson,  a  merchant  of  Leith.  Paterson  had 
a  ship  yclept  the  'Crown/  and  with  this  ship  he  essayed 


98  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

to  transport  his  countrymen  to  America  to  be  sold  as 
slaves. 

"The  'Crown'  had  barely  accommodation  for  one 
hundred  men ;  but  into  her  hold  were  crushed  the  two 
hundred  and  fifty-seven  who  had  borne  arms  for 
Christ  and  his  covenanted  Kirk.  In  the  hold  there 
was  not  room  to  lie  down;  the  decencies  of  life  were 
impossible;  there  was  plenty  of  dirt  and  very  little 
food.  There  was  no  light  and  no  comfort;  but  ever 
and  anon  arose  the  prayers  of  misery  and  the  psalms 
of  delirium.  The  weather  was  wild,  cold,  stormy,  and 
tempestuous.  Day  was  dark  and  night  was  darker 
still.  No  sun  shone  through  the  drifting  snow,  no 
star  through  the  dark  and  mist ;  and  the  wilderness  of 
waters  raged  and  boiled  and  plunged  over  the  deck 
and  leapt  over  yardarms,  and  the  cordage  was  stiff 
with  ice  and  grisly  with  snow.  Wodrow  has  put  it  on 
record  that  all  they  had  suffered  since,  at  Bothwell 
Brig,  the  banner  of  Christ  went  down  in  blood  was  as 
nothing  to  what  the  devoted  remnant  were  suffering 
now.  So  severe  was  the  weather  and  so  stormy  was 
the  sea  that,  a  fortnight  after  leaving  Leith,  the 
'Crown'  had  got  no  further  than  Orkney  Isles. 

"On  the  night  of  December  10,  1679,  some  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Orkney  caught,  now  and  then,  sight  of 
a  vessel  through  the  drifting  snow.  The  vessel  was 
evidently  in  the  direst  distress.  The  sky  was  black, 
flakes  of  snow  alternated  with  pelting  sleet,  the  wind 
roared  like  an  angry  demon,  the  billows  ftung  them 
selves  into  the  mountains,  and  the  chorus  of  the 
ocean's  thunder-song  shook  the  foundations  of  the 
world.  The  eye  could  not  discern  what  was  sea  and 
what  was  land,  what  was  mountain  and  what  was 
cloud.  But  ever  and  anon,  for  a  moment,  in  the  com 
parative  lull  of  the  wind  and  the  wave,  was  an  inter 
lude  of  human  voices,  pitched  in  the  key  of  agony  and 


Dark  Pages  in   White   Civilization.  99 

ranging  the  gamut  of  despair.  Scott  of  Tankerness, 
at  the  head  of  two  or  three  seamen,  manned  a  boat  and 
led  a  forlorn  hope  into  the  ocean.  With  mighty  voice 
Scott  cried  to  the  captain  of  the  ship — the  ship  was 
the  'Crown' — to  steer  to  a  certain  point  to  avoid 
destruction.  The  captain  cried  back,  'If  the  vessel 

cannot  ride  where  she  is,  she  may  go  to !'    She 

could  not  ride  where  she  was,  and  to she  went. 

More  terrible  blew  the  wind.  The  anchor  held  fast, 
but  the  cable  snapped  like  a  thread;  and,  like  a  mad 
thing  rushing  on  to  perdition,  the  'Crown'  dashed  on 
ward,  where  jagged  rocks  stretched  far  out  like  the 
great  saws  of  the  god  of  the  sea.  As  the  'Crown' 
drove  before  the  wind  to  her  inevitable  doom,  down  in 
the  darkness  the  Covenanters  joined  together  and 
sang  the  hundred  and  thirty-seventh  psalm : — 

"  'By  Babel's  streams  we  sat  and  wept, 

While  Zion  we  thought  on ; 
In  midst  thereof  we  hung  our  harps 

The  willow  trees  upon; 
For  there  a  song  required  they 

Who  did  us  captive  bring; 
Our  spoilers  called  for  mirth  and  said, 

A  song  of  Zion  sing. 
O  how     .      .      ,;'"•» 

"This  psalm,  which  through  years  of  fierce  per 
secution  had  rung  over  the  Scottish  moorlands  and 
waked  the  echoes  of  the  Scottish  hills,  had  often  been 
interrupted  before  as  the  sentinel  espied  in  the  distance 
the  dancing  plumes  and  the  shining  blades  of  the  men 
of  blood;  and  the  conventicle  had,  on  the  spur  of  the 
moment,  to  make  up  its  mind  whether  it  would  fight  or 
flee.  But  now  the  psalm  was  interrupted  by  a  mightier 
than  Claverhouse,  a  fiercer  than  Dalziel,  a  more  merci 
less  than  Lag.  The  'Crown/  drifting  before  the 
tempest,  had  struck,  with  the  impact  of  a  thunder- 


100  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

bolt,  a  ledge  of  rock  projecting  into  the  waves.  The 
holy  and  brave,  the  men  from  whose  loins  I  am  sprung, 
the  men  whose  blood  boils  in  my  veins  as  I  write,  were 
still  below  in  the  dark,  with  the  hatches  battened  down 
by  the  order  of  the  captain's  wife,  who  had  had  her 
brains  dashed  out  by  the  falling  rigging  the  moment 
after  she  gave  the  fiendish  command. 

"By  now  there  is  no  deck,  no  hold,  no  mast,  no 
hatches ;  that  jutting  rock  of  the  Orkneys  has  left  the 
'Crown'  a  shattered  and  shapeless  wreck!  To  the 
shore — to  the  shore!  In  vain.  Some,  by  the  waves, 
are  dashed  against  it  lifeless ;  some,  but  far  fewer,  are 
dashed  against  it  living,  and  clamber  up  the  Moul 
Head.  But,  even  on  the  shore,  the  remnant  who  had 
fought  under  the  banner  of  the  Lord  at  Bothwell  had 
not  seen  an  end  of  their  suffering.  They  were  weak 
with  hunger,  faint  with  fatigue,  their  limbs  stiffened 
under  their  frozen  clothes,  and  they  were  blinded  by 
the  drifts  of  snow  which  were  dashed  in  their  faces 
by  the  December  wind.  They  sank  in  death  in  the 
fields  round  Deerness;  and  round  Scarvating,  each 
beside  his  pool  of  frozen  blood,  lay  more  than  one 
noble,  but  unknown  hero  of  the  Covenant,  under  the 
cliff  from  the  summit  of  which  he  had  fallen  in  the 
snow  and  darkness. 

"Of  the  two  hundred  and  fifty-seven  more  than 
two  hundred  perished  on  that  fatal  loth  of  December. 
Their  flesh  never  writhed  under  the  driver's  whip, 
they  never  in  slavery  sang  the  songs  of  Zion  and 
Scotland.  The  frowning  headland  of  the  Moul  is  their 
monument,  and  the  waves  round  the  distant  Orkneys 
sing  their  requiem  forever  and  forever. 

"And  forever  and  forever  shall  the  valiant  and 
free  souls  of  the  human  race  execrate  the  accursed 
greed  that  shipped  these  men  into  slavery."  (W. 
Stewart  Ross.) 


Dark   Pages  in   White   Civilization.  101 

This  was  the  spirit  of  the  transatlantic  slave-trade. 
That  the  black  man  was  finally  the  victim  and  the 
white  man  the  perpetrator  was  the  merest  incident. 
The  white  man  has  done  nothing  to  the  black  man  that 
the  black  man  would  not  have  done  to  the  white  man 
had  the  conditions  been  reversed.  Nay,  the  white  man 
has  done  little  to  the  black  man  that  the  black  man 
has  not  done  to  himself.  This  the  white  man  admits, 
and  delights  to  tell  of  the  barbarities  of  the  African 
slave-hunters ;  but  he  will  not  admit,  in  fact,  in  many 
cases  seems  not  to  know,  what  is  equally  true,  that  the 
white  man  has  done  nothing  to  the  black  man  that  he 
would  not,  under  like  circumstances,  do  to  white 
people.  In  fact,  there  is  little  that  is  cruel  and  bar 
barous  that  the  white  man  has  done  to  the  black  that 
he  has  not  previously  done  to  his  fellow-white. 

II. — RELIGIOUS  FANATICISM. 

Life  is  more  psychology  than  physiology.  This 
psychological  portion  is  made  up  of  many  elements,  the 
most  important  portion  of  which  is  reason;  but  the 
most  important  element  is,  unfortunately,  not  always 
the  most  powerful.  A  stoker  on  a  great  steamship 
may  throw  the  captain  overboard.  This  is  exactly 
what  may  happen  to  the  ship  of  our  lives  when  lan 
guage  appeals  solely  to  our  "feelings;"  when  self- 
interest,  greed,  or  passion  become  dominant.  The 
emotions  are  to  the  intellect  what  the  rabble  is  to  a 
democracy;  once  thoroughly  aroused,  and  everything 
goes  down  before  it.  This  is  why  "blessings"  fre 
quently  bring  good  fortune  and  "cursings"  bad  for 
tune.  It  was  the  misfortunes  that  followed  the  ex 
communicated  that  made  Europe  at  one  time,  from  the 
king  on  the  throne  to  the  beggar  in  the  ditch,  slaves 
of  the  priesthood.  What  man  could  leave  a  church 


102  American  Civilisation  and  flic  Negro. 

and  be  fit  for  successful  work  with  the  following  curse 
ringing  in  his  ears  ? 

"In  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost, 
the  blessed  Virgin  Mary,  John  the  Baptist,  Peter, 
Paul,  and  all  other  Saints  in  Heaven  do  we  curse  and 
cut  off  from  our  Communion  him  who  has  thus  re 
belled  against  us.  May  the  curse  strike  him  in  the 
house,  barn,  bed,  field,  path,  city,  castle.  May  he  be  ac 
cursed  in  battle,  accursed  in  praying,  in  speaking,  in 
silence,  in  eating,  in  drinking,  in  sleeping.  May  he  be 
accursed  in  his  taste,  hearing,  smell,  and  all  his  senses. 
May  the  curse  blast  his  eyes,  head  and  body,  from  his 
crown  to  the  soles  of  his  feet.  I  conjure  you,  Devil, 
and  all  your  imps,  that  you  take  no  rest  till  you  have 
brought  him  to  eternal  shame;  till  he  is  destroyed  by 
drowning  or  hanging,  till  he  is  torn  to  pieces  by  wild 
beasts,  or  consumed  by  fire.  Let  his  children  become 
orphans,  his  wife  a  widow.  I  command  you,  Devil, 
and  all  your  imps,  that  even  as  I  now  blow  out  these 
torches,  you  do  immediately  extinguish  the  light  from 
his  eyes.  So  be  it — so  be  it.  Amen.  Amen." 
(Motley,  "Dutch  Republic/') 

Well  for  mankind  if  religious  fanaticism  would 
only  limit  itself  to  violence  of  language,  but  alas ! 

The  savagery  of  Africa !  Aye !  And  the  savagery 
of  Europe!  Even  as  I  write  this,  Europe  is  engaged 
in  murder  upon  a  scale  that  Africa  never  knew. 
Savagery !  "Oh  for  a  lodge  in  some  vast  wilderness !" 
The  history  of  the  world  is  the  martyrdom  of  man.  In 
savagery  man  has  indeed  "pre-eminence  above  a 
beast,"  whether  he  is  black  and  establishing  a  Ju 
Ju  House  in  Gnongo  (see  J.  Cameron  Grant's 
"Ethiopian")  or  is  white  and  is  vindicating  religion 
in  Ireland.  Since  some  are  fond  of  quoting  Grant's 
description  of  the  former  I  will  quote  Macaulay's 
description  of  the  latter : — 


Dark   Pages  in   White   Civilization.  103 

"Nor  age,  nor  sex/'  writes  Macaulay,  "nor  in 
fancy,  were  spared.  All  conditions  were  involved  in 
one  general  ruin.  In  vain  did  the  unhappy  victim 
appeal  to  the  sacred  ties  of  humanity,  hospitality, 
family  connection,  and  all  the  tender  obligations  of 
social  commerce;  companions,  friends,  relations,  not 
only  denied  protection,  but  dealt  with  their  own  hands 
the  fatal  blow.  In  vain  did  the  pious  son  plead  for 
his  devoted  parent;  himself  was  doomed  to  suffer  a 
more  premature  mortality.  In  vain  did  the  tender 
mother  attempt  to  soften  the  obdurate  heart  of  the 
assassin  in  behalf  of  her  helpless  children;  she  was 
reserved  to  behold  them  cruelly  butchered,  and  then  to 
undergo  a  like  fate.  The  weeping  wife,  lamenting 
over  the  mangled  carcass  of  her  husband,  experienced 
a  death  no  less  horrid  than  that  which  she  deplored. 
This  scene  of  blood  received  yet  a  deeper  stain  from 
the  wanton  exercise  of  more  execrable  cruelty  than 
had  ever  yet  occurred  to  the  warm  and  fertile  imagina 
tion  of  Eastern  barbarians.  Women  whose  feeble 
minds  received  a  yet  stronger  impression  of  religious 
frenzy  were  more  ferocious  than  men;  and  children, 
excited  by  the  example  and  exhortation  of  their  par 
ents,  stained  their  innocent  age  with  the  blackest  deeds 
of  human  butchery. 

"Some  thousands  of  English  were  burnt  in  their 
houses ;  others  were  stripped  naked,  and,  in  hundreds 
in  a  drove,  pricked  forward  with  swords  and  pikes  to 
river-sides,  and  from  thence  pushed  headlong  into  the 
stream;  some  were  manacled  and  thrown  into  dun 
geons,  and  there  left  to  perish  at  leisure ;  others  were 
mangled  and  left  to  languish  in  highways ;  some  were 
happy  enough  to  suffer  the  milder  death  of  hanging; 
other  more  unfortunate  wretches  were  buried  alive — 
this  was  the  fate  of  a  poor  little  infant,  who,  while  he 
was  being  put  in  the  grave,  cried  to  his  dead  parent, 


104  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

'Mammy,  mammy,  save  me !'  Yet  could  not  his  inno 
cent  cry  pierce  the  heart  of  the  hardened  wretch  from 
whom  he  received  his  fate.  Some  were  mangled  and 
hung  upon  tenter-hooks ;  some  with  ropes  round  their 
necks  were  dragged  through  the  woods,  bogs,  and 
ditches,  till  they  died;  some  were  hanged  up  by  the 
arms,  and  then  cut  and  slashed ;  some  were  ripped  up, 
and  their  entrails  left  hanging  about  their  heels. 
These  kinds  of  cruelties  were  exercised  on  children 
of  all  ages,  and  many  women  with  child  suffered  the 
same  fate.  Children  were  forced  to  carry  their  sick 
and  aged  parents  to  the  place  of  slaughter ;  there  were 
of  these  barbarians  some  so  ingenious  in  their  cruelty 
as  to  tempt  their  prisoners,  with  the  hope  of  preserv 
ing  their  lives,  to  imbrue  their  hands  in  the  blood  of 
their  relations.  Children  were,  in  this  manner,  im 
pelled  to  be  executioners  of  their  parents,  wives  of 
their  husbands,  mothers  of  their  children;  and  then, 
when  they  were  rendered  accomplices  in  guilt,  they 
were  deprived  of  that  life  they  endeavored  to  purchase 
at  so  horrid  a  price.  Children  were  boiled  to  death  in 
cauldrons ;  some  were  flayed  alive ;  others  were  stoned 
to  death ;  others  had  their  eyes  plucked  out,  their  ears, 
noses,  and  cheeks  and  hands  cut  off,  and  thus  rendered 
spectacles  to  satiate  the  malice  of  their  enemies ;  some 
were  buried  up  to  their  chins,  and  were  left  to  perish 
by  degrees.  Parents  were  roasted  to  death  before 
their  children,  and  children  before  their  parents. 
When  anyone  on  the  brink  of  mortality  desired  to 
say  a  short  prayer  the  bigoted  barbarians  would  exult 
over  the  fearful  wretch,  and  tell  him  that  the  agonies 
to  be  inflicted  were  but  the  beginning  of  infinite  and 
eternal  torments.  If  anyone  escaped  the  murdering 
hands  of  these  human  fiends,  they  were  hunted,  baited, 
and  worried  to  death  by  their  dogs;  nor  could  the 
miserable  condition  of  these  wretches'  excrutiating 


Dark   Pages  in    White   Civilization.  105 

pangs,  their  anguish  of  mind,  their  agony  of  despair, 
assuage  the  lust  of  cruelty,  which  precept,  bigotry, 
national  prejudice,  and  the  contagion  of  example  had 
kindled  in  the  depraved  nature  of  their  brutal  enemies. 
In  the  last  stroke  of  death  they  expressed  their  malice 
with  the  following  valediction,  Thy  soul  to  the  devil  F 
and,  at  the  hazard  of  contagion,  obstinately  refused 
burial  to  their  mangled  bodies." 

I  leave  the  reader  to  find  out  for  himself  wherein 
these  civilized  rites  of  white  Christians  are  superior 
to  the  mad  orgies  of  the  black  heathen. 

And  this  is  the  civilization  of  which  Euro- 
Americans  boast  and  call  Afro-Americans  barbarians 
— whose  emotional  animalism,  falsely  named  religion, 
will  endanger  the  calm  intellectuality  of  the  genuine 
European  article.  Emotional  fanaticism  is  by  no 
means  the  exclusive  possession  of  the  colored  man. 

"The  practice  of  public  self-flagellation  in  church 
during  Lent  appears  now  to  have  died  out  entirely,  but 
it  existed  in  Spain  and  Portugal  up  to  the  early  years 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  Descriptions  of  it  will 
often  be  met  with  in  old  volumes  of  travel.  Thus,  I 
find  a  traveller  in  Spain  in  1786  describing  how,  at 
Barcelona,  he  was  present  when,  in  Lent,  at  a  Miserere 
in  the  Convent  Church  of  San  Felipe  Neri  on  Friday 
evening,  the  doors  were  shut,  the  lights  put  out,  and 
in  perfect  darkness  all  bared  their  backs  and  applied 
the  discipline,  singing  while  they  scourged  themselves, 
ever  louder  and  harsher  and  with  ever  greater  vehem 
ence  until  in  twenty  minutes'  time  the  whole  ended  in 
a  deep  groan.  It  is  mentioned  that  at  Malaga,  after 
such  a  scene,  the  whole  church  in  the  morning  was 
sprinkled  with  blood."1 

If  as  much  ingenuity  had  been  expended  in  foster 
ing  art  and  pursuing  science  as  has  been  exerted  to 

iHayelock  Ellis,  "Psychology  of  Sex." 


106  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

prove  the  inferiority  of  the  unfortunate  victims  of 
greed  and  human  selfishness,  we  should  today  be  living 
in  a  brighter,  happier,  nobler  world. 

Ye  that  think  we  are  not  progressing,  take  a  look 
at  the  laws  of  a  few  centuries  ago.  Burning  at  the 
stake  was  common :  "It  was  commonly  regarded  as  an 
easier  death  than  hanging,  and  was,  therefore,  in 
flicted  on  criminals  of  less  flagitious  offenses,  and  on 
women.  In  some  instances,  however,  the  condemned 
was  ignited  and  choked  simultaneously,  in  order  to 
give  her  the  advantage  of  both  systems.  Women  were 
frequently  drowned,  too,  especially  adulteresses  and 
witches;  being  generally  put  in  a  bag  along  with  a 
cat  or  a  snake,  and  cast  into  a  pond.  For  the  former, 
the  frail  delinquents  whom  men  had  seduced,  smother 
ing  in  mud  was  not  infrequently  prescribed.  In  1599 
the  High  Court  of  Edinburgh  sentenced  Grissel 
Mathon,  'to  be  taken  to  the  North  Loch  and  there 
drowned  till  she  be  dead/  In  Bavaria,  circa  1450,  the 
wife  of  Duke  Albert  the  Pious  was,  by  order  of  her 
father,  sacked  up  and  dropped  off  the  bridge ;  but  she 
got  free,  and  was  about  to  reach  the  bank  when  the 
executioner  thrust  a  long  pole  into  her  hair  and  held 
her  down  till  life  was  extinct.  In  France,  about  the 
same  period,  it  was  legal  to  bury  people  alive,  and 
much  later  a  special  law  was  passed  in  England  con 
ferring  upon  a  criminal  of  unusual  talent  the  distinc 
tion  of  being  boiled  in  oil.  Plain  boiling  in  water  was 
common  enough;  and  in  the  executioner's  expense 
account  for  the  last  sad  rites  of  Friar  Stone,  at  Canter 
bury,  are  the  following  items : — 

Paid  two  men  who  sat  at  the  kettle  and  parboiled  him. .  Is.  Od. 
To  three  men  that  carried  the  quarters  to  the  gates 

and  set  them  up Is.  Od. 

The  law  under  which  boiling  was  done  was  re- 


Dark   Pages  in   White   Civilization.  107 

pealed  in  the  time  of  Edward  VI,  not  without  the 
gravest  apprehension  that  the  repealing  act  would 
unsettle  the  foundations  of  public  security ;  but  as  late 
as  1786  a  woman  previously  strangled  was  publicly 
burned  opposite  Newgate  Prison.  George  III  put  an 
end  to  the  practice  in  1790.  Disemboweling,  which 
was  at  one  time  in  high  religious  favor,  has  been  dis 
continued  for  some  centuries."2 

Let  those  who  claim  that  the  Negro  is  contaminat 
ing  the  white  man's  Christianity  read  these  extracts 
from  a  recent  European  writer :  "The  Romans  were 
no  religious  bigots,  but  were  well  known  to  tolerate  all 
speculative  opinions  whatever.  Let  us  find  out,  then, 
why  they  made  an  exception  in  the  case  of  the 
Christians.  On  pages  7  and  8  of  'Min.  Faelix'  we  find 
the  impeachment  of  the  new  sect  stated  thus:  'That 
the  Christians  knew  one  another  by  certain  private 
marks  and  signs,  and  were  wont  to  be  in  love  with, 
almost  before  they  knew,  one  another ;  that  they  exer 
cised  lust  and  filthiness  under  the  pretence  of  religion, 
promiscuously  calling  themselves  brothers  and  sisters ; 
that,  by  the  help  of  so  sacred  a  name,  their  common 
adulteries  might  become  incestuous;  that,  upon  a 
solemn  day,  they  meet  together  at  a  feast,  with  their 
wives,  children,  sisters,  mothers,  persons  of  every  age 
and  sex,  where,  after  they  have  well  eaten  and 
drunken,  and  begun  to  be  excited  and  merry,  heated 
with  excess  of  wine,  a  piece  of  meat  is  thrown  to  the 
dogs,  who,  being  tied  to  the  candlesticks,  begin  to 
jump  and  dash  about  till  they  have  run  away  with  and 
extinguished  the  lights,  and  then,  nothing  being  left 
but  darkness,  the  fit  cover  and  shadow  for  indecency 
and  villainy,  they  promiscuously  run  among  one  an 
other  into  filthy  and  incestuous  embraces ;  and,  if  they 
be  not  all  alike  guilty  of  incest,  it  is  not  the  fault  of 

2  Saladin,  "Woman,"  vol.  i. 


108  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

their  will,  but  the  good  fortune  of  their  chance,  seeing 
what  actually  happens  to  one  is  intentionally  the  lot 
of  all." 

"Eusebius  himself  bears  testimony  that  the  early 
Christians  were,  by  their  contemporaries,  accused  of 
feasting1  on  the  flesh  of  murdered  infants." 

"From  the  'Apologies  of  the  Fathers'3  we  learn 
that  not  only  those  who  never  had  been  Christians, 
but  those  who  had  been  Christians  and  become  apos 
tate,  asserted  that  at  the  Christian  Agapae,  or  love- 
feasts,  'a  newborn  infant  entirely  covered  over  with 
flowers  was  presented,  like  some  mystic  symbol  of 
initiation,  to  the  knife  of  the  proselyte,  who,  unknow 
ingly,  inflicted  many  a  secret  and  mortal  wound  on  the 
innocent  victim  of  his  error ;  that,  as  soon  as  the  cruel 
deed  was  perpetrated,  the  sectaries  drank  up  the  blood 
greedily,  tore  asunder  the  quivering  members,  and 
pledged  themselves  to  eternal  secrecy  by  a  mutual  con 
sciousness  of  guilt.  It  was  as  confidently  affirmed  that 
this  human  sacrifice  was  succeeded  by  a  suitable  en 
tertainment,  in  which  intemperance  served  as  a  provo 
cative  to  brutal  lust,  till,  at  the  appointed  moment,  the 
lights  were  suddenly  extinguished,  shame  was  ban 
ished,  nature  was  forgotten,  and,  as  accident  might 
direct,  the  darkness  of  the  night  was  polluted  by  the 
incestuous  intercourse  of  sisters  and  brothers,  of  sons 
and  mothers/ 

"The  same  protest  against  murder,  incest,  and 
unspeakable  abomination  rose  not  only  from  Rome, 
but  from  Lyons  and  Vienna.  Eusebius,4  quoting  a 
letter  from  the  Christians  of  Gaul,  says:  'Some 
domestics  belonging  to  our  brethren  were  also  seized, 
as  the  governor  had  publicly  commanded  that  search 

3  See  Justin  Martyr,  "Apolog.,"  i,  35;  ii,  14;  Athenag.,  in  "Leg.," 
ch.  xxvii;  Tertull.,  in  "Apolog.,"  chs.  vii,  viii,  ix ;  "Min.  Faelix,"  chs. 
ix,  x,  xxx,  xxxi. 

4  Euseb.,  "Hist.  Eccles.,"  lib.  v,  ch.  i. 


Dark   Pages  in   White   Civilization.  109 

should  be  made  for  all.  But  these,  at  the  instigation 
of  Satan,  for  fear  of  the  tortures  which  they  saw  the 
saints  endure,  and  owing  to  the  solicitations  of  the 
soldiers,  charged  us  with  the  feasts  of  Thyestes  and 
the  incests  of  QEdipus,  and  such  crimes  are  neither 
lawful  for  us  to  mention  nor  imagine/ 

"Who  were  Thyestes  and  (Edipus  ?  I  shall  inform 
the  non-classical  readers.  .  .  .  Thyestes  vio 
lated  ^Erope,  the  wife  of  his  brother  Atreus,  and  fed 
upon  the  flesh  of  his  own  children,  which  she  had 
borne  him  in  adultery.  He,  incognito,  ravished  his 
daughter  Pelopeia  in  a  grove  sacred  to  Minerva. 
(Edipus  killed  his  father  and  committed  incest  with 
his  mother/' 

Let  those  who  are  trying  to  prove  that  the  colored 
man  in  America  today  is  not  fit  for  citizenship  because 
of  the  savage  wars  waged  by  his  ancestors  in  Africa 
read  what  Don  Frederic  did  for  Naarden  in  Europe: 
"Here  Don  Frederic  established  his  headquarters  and 
proceeded  to  invest  the  city.  Senator  Gerrit  was  then 
directed  to  return  to  Naarden  and  to  bring  out  a  more 
numerous  deputation  on  the  following  morning,  duly 
empowered  to  surrender  the  place.  The  envoy  accord 
ingly  returned  the  next  day,  accompanied  by  Lambert 
Hortensius,  rector  of  a  Latin  academy,  together  with 
four  other  citizens.  Before  this  deputation  had 
reached  Bussem,  they  were  met  by  Julius  Romero, 
who  informed  them  that  he  was  commissioned  to  treat 
with  them  on  the  part  of  Don  Frederic.  He  demanded 
the  keys  of  the  city,  and  gave  the  deputation  a  solemn 
pledge  that  the  lives  and  property  of  all  the  inhabitants 
should  be  sacredly  respected.  To  attest  this  assurance, 
Don  Julian  gave  his  hand  three  times  to  Lambert 
Hortensius.  A  soldier's  word  thus  plighted,  the  com 
missioners,  without  exchanging  any  written  docu 
ments,  surrendered  the  keys  and  immediately  after- 


110  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

ward  accompanied  Romero  into  the  city,  who  was 
soon  followed  by  five  or  six  hundred  musketeers. 

"To  give  these  guests  a  hospitable  reception,  all 
the  housewives  of  the  city  at  once  set  about  prepara 
tions  for  a  sumptuous  feast,  to  which  the  Spaniards 
did  ample  justice,  while  the  colonel  and  his  officers  were 
entertained  by  Senator  Gerrit  at  his  own  house.  As 
soon  as  this  conviviality  had  come  to  an  end,  Romero, 
accompanied  by  his  host,  walked  into  the  square.  The 
great  bell  had  been  meantime  ringing,  and  the  citizens 
had  been  summoned  to  assemble  in  the  Cast  Huis 
Church,  then  used  as  a  townhall.  In  the  course  of  a 
few  minutes  five  hundred  had  entered  the  building, 
and  stood  quietly  awaiting  whatever  measure  might  be 
offered  their  deliberation.  Suddenly  a  priest,  who  had 
been  pacing  to  and  fro  before  the  church-door,  entered 
the  building,  and  bade  them  all  prepare  for  death ;  but 
the  announcement,  the  preparation,  and  the  death 
were  simultaneous.  The  doors  were  flung  open,  and 
a  band  of  armed  Spaniards  rushed  across  the  sacred 
threshold.  They  fired  a  single  volley  upon  the  de 
fenceless  herd,  and  then  sprang  in  upon  them  with 
sword  and  dagger.  Men  were  slain,  women  outraged 
at  the  altars,  in  the  streets,  in  their  blazing  homes. 
Hardly  any  man  or  woman  survived,  except  by  acci 
dent.  A  body  of  some  hundred  burghers  made  their 
escape  across  the  snow  into  the  open  country.  They 
were,  however,  overtaken,  stripped  stark  naked,  and 
hung  upon  the  trees  by  the  feet,  to  freeze,  or  to  perish 
by  a  more  lingering  death. 

"Nearly  all  the  inhabitants  of  Naarden,  soldiers 
and  citizens,  were  thus  destroyed;  and  now  Don 
Frederic  issued  peremptory  orders  that  no  one,  on 
pain  of  death,  should  give  lodging  or  food  to  any 
fugitive.  He  likewise  forbade  to  the  dead  all  that 


Dark  Pages  in   White   Civilization.  Ill 

could  not  be  forbidden  them — a  grave,  and  for  a  long 
time  Naarden  ceased  to  exist."5 

Here  is  fanatical  literalism  quenched  by  heartless 
barbarism:  "On  a  cold  winter's  night  (February, 
1535),  seven  men  and  five  women,  inspired  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  threw  off  their  clothes  and  rushed  naked 
and  raving  through  the  streets,  shrieking  'Wo,  wo, 
wo!  the  wrath  of  God,  the  wrath  of  God!'  When 
arrested,  they  obstinately  refused  to  put  on  clothing. 
'We  are'  they  observed,  'the  naked  truth!'  In  a  day 
or  two,  these  furious  lunatics,  who  certainly  deserved 
the  madhouse  rather  than  the  scaffold,  were  all 
executed."  (Motley.) 

Woman  asserted  her  rights  in  those  days :  "Mary 
of  Hungary,  sister  of  the  emperor,  regent  of  the  prov 
inces,  the  'Christian  Widow'  admired  by  Erasmus, 
wrote  to  her  brother  that  'in  her  opinion  all  heretics, 
whether  repentant  or  not,  should  be  prosecuted  with 
such  severity  as  that  error  might  be,  at  once,  ex 
tinguished,  care  being  only  taken  that  the  provinces 
were  not  entirely  depopulated.'  With  this  humane 
limitation,  the  'Christian  Widow'  cheerfully  set  her 
self  to  superintend  as  foul  and  wholesale  a  system  of 
murder  as  was  ever  organized.  In  1535,'  an  imperial 
edict  was  issued  at  Brussels,  condemning  all  heretics 
to  death;  repentant  males  to  be  executed  with  the 
sword,  repentant  females  to  be  buried  alive,  the  obsti 
nate  of  both  sexes  to  be  burned.  This  and  similar 
edicts  were  the  law  of  the  land  for  twenty  years,  and 
rigidly  enforced." 

We  close  with  this  glance  at  Caucasian  morals  and 
syphilis  when  no  Negroes  were  there:  "At  the  diet 
of  Nuremburg,  .  .  .  the  honest  pope  declared 
roundly  .  .  .  'that  these  disorders  had  sprung 
from  the  sins  of  priests  and  prelates.  Even  in  the  holy 

5  Motley,  "Dutch  Republic." 


112  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

chair/  said  he,  'many  horrible  crimes  have  been  com 
mitted/  Many  abuses  have  grown  up  in  the  ecclesi 
astical  state.  The  contagious  disease,  spreading  from 
the  head  to  the  members — from  the  pope  to  lesser 
prelates — has  spread  far  and  wide,  so  that  scarcely 
anyone  is  to  be  found  who  does  right,  and  who  is  free 
from  infection."  (Motley's  "Dutch  Republic.") 

For  some  further  details  on  this  subject  the  reader 
is  referred  to  the  Bible.  Read  the  first  chapter  of 
Paul's  Letter  to  the  Romans,  beginning  at  the  22d 
verse. 

III. — MODERN  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS. 

But  let  us  turn  from  ancient  religion  to  modern 
society.  The  white  man's  civilization,  indeed !  Civili 
zation  is  not  a  possession,  but  an  attainment, — an  at 
tainment  envisaged  by  many,  but  only  reached  by  few. 
The  keen-brained,  clear-voiced  heralds  of  the  dawn 
have  called  in  vain  to  the  multitudes.  I  could  set  your 
hair  on  end,  O  reader,  with  horror  at  the  bare  and 
unvarnished  recital  of  the  refinements  of  cruelty  in 
vented  by  "man's  inhumanity  to  man !" 

Here  is  a  side-light  on  Caucasian  chivalry  to 
women:  "As  to  the  prevalence  of  whipping  in  Eng 
land,  evidence  is  furnished  by  Andrews,  in  his  book 
on  ancient  punishments.  The  public  whipping  of 
women,  stripped  naked  and  whipped  till  they  bled, 
sometimes  to  death,  was  practised.  Judge  Jeffreys,  a 
great  conserver  of  good  old  constitutions  and  customs, 
sentencing  a  lady  to  be  whipped,  in  his  genial  manner 
said :  'Hangman,  I  charge  you  to  pay  particular  atten 
tion  to  this  lady.  Scourge  her  soundly,  man ;  scourge 
her  till  her  blood  runs  down !  It  is  Christmas,  a  cold 
time  for  madam  to  strip.  See  that  you  warm  her 
shoulders  thoroughly.' 

Speaking  of  London,  Mr.  Ross0  says:    "I  have 

6  W.  Stewart  Ross,  "Woman." 


Dark  Pages  in   White   Civilization.  113 

more  than  once  gone  home  with  children  I  have  found 
sleeping  under  dark  stairways,  railway  arches,  and 
under  carts.  'Home'  has  usually  been  a  den  of 
drunkenness  and  dirt.  I  have  never  been  thanked  for 
bringing  home  a  child  from  the  frosty  railway  arch 
or  from  the  frozen  doorsteps.  I  have  usually  had  to 
give  the  contents  of  my  purse  to  prevent  the  child,  who 
had  not  earned  or  stolen  sufficient  coppers,  from  get 
ting  beaten  well-nigh  to  death ;  and,  even  after  having 
given  my  last  farthing,  I  have  heard  the  dull  and 
heavy  blows  fall  upon  the  children  I  had  rescued,  be 
fore  I  had  well  got  outside  the  door,  and  my  heart  had 
sickened  under  their  terrible  screams.  I  have  some 
times  returned  to  plead  for  mercy,  and  always  at  the 
risk  of  being  done  to  death  by  villains  without  a  gleam 
of  human  intelligence  in  their  eye  or  a  drop  of  human 
blood  in  their  heart — villains  that  the  great  towns  of 
England  can  furnish  in  hundreds  of  thousands,  after 
more  than  eighteen  centuries  of  the  gospel  of  the 
Galilean.  I  should  not  advise  Arch-deacon  Farrar,  or 
those  like  him,  to  go  into  such  localities ;  but  I  should 
advise  them  to  hold  their  peace  about  the  effects  of 
Christianity  till  they  do.  The  entering  of  such  locali 
ties  is  not  for  the  halt,  the  maimed,  the  lame,  or  the 
blind.  The  entering  such  localities  is  not  for  the  mere 
scholar  and  fine  gentleman,  with  flaccid  muscles  and 
attenuated  thews;  but  for  one  with,  when  put  to  it,  a 
desperado's  courage,  and  bones  of  iron  and  sinews  of 
brass.  I  never  stir  out  after  sunset  without  a  heavy 
oaken  staff,  the  motto  of  which  is  'Defense,  not  De 
fiance/  Not  attacked,  I  would  be  the  last  to  use  it; 
attacked,  I  should  be  the  first.  Grasping  it  in  my  right 
hand,  I  have,  more  than  once,  set  out  on  an  errand  of 
mercy,  and  returned  with  it  mercilessly  encrusted  with 
blood  and  hair — peradventure  some  of  the  blood  my 
own.  I  have  had  occasionally  to  be  very  cruel  to  be 


114  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

kind.  With  those  whom  society  has  allowed  to  sink 
lower  than  dogs  or  swine,  you  have  to  argue  with  a 
poker;  you  have  to  convince  them  by  breaking  their 
heads  with  a  broken  chair.  You  need  not  try  to  make 
them  understand  any  moral  canon;  but,  once  with  a 
broken  chair  and  once  with  a  poker,  I  succeeded  in 
letting  them  know  the  plain,  concrete  fact  that  I  ob- 
jecte/1  to  being  murdered.  Mere  words,  however 
kindly  meant  and  spoken,  are  simply  wasted  wind. 
They  do  not  want  your  words;  they  want  your  watch. 
When  you  appeal  to  their  sense  of  right  and  truth 
you  appeal  to  minus  quantities ;  you  may  as  well  invoke 
the  moral  sentiment  of  a  clam,  and  attempt  to  inflame 
the  chivalry  of  an  oyster.  Very  many  of  them  are  the 
result  of  the  lecherous  whim  of  somebody  in  broad 
cloth — a  lecherous  whim  which  fructifies  into  destitu 
tion  and  disease,  degradation,  deviltry  and  danger. 
The  toad  that  spawns  on  the  margin  of  the  pool  is 
more  careful  of  its  young  than  are  the  parents  who 
spawned  these  creatures  in  the  center  of  Debauchery's 
Lake  of  Dismal  Swamp.  If  emmenagogues  had  not 
failed — if  attempts  to  obtain  abortion  had  not  proved 
abortive,  they  would  not  have  been  there.  They  owe 
nothing  to  the  fabric  of  society;  they  are  not  of  the 
fabric ;  they  are  stercorous  and  pestilent  offal  that  lies 
around  its  base.  They  owe  nothing  to  the  world,  and 
each  man  or  woman  would  set  the  world  on  fire  to  cook 
his  or  her  own  particular  herring.  The  begetting  of 
children,  the  bearing  of  children — all  the  offices  of 
nature,  all  the  mean  gutter-crawling  of  'life/  and  all 
the  groaning  squalor  of  death,  not  infrequently  take 
place  in  the  same  den,  and  in  the  sight  and  hearing 
of  all.  Society  has  dropped  them  through  as  slag  and 
clinkers  for  guilt  and  hell,  and  turned  her  pious  atten 
tion  to  savages  in  foreign  lands."7 

Ubid. 


Dark   Pages  in   White   Civilization.  115 

Who  with  a  full  knowledge  of  such  conditions, 
wherever  man  is  crowded,  will  dare  say  that  the  slums 
of  our  Southern  cities  exist  because  of  the  Negro? 
The  great  damage  done  by  Negro-baiting  is  not  the 
propagating  of  false  doctrine,  but  the  creation  of  an 
atmosphere  antagonistic  to  calm  thought  and  free 
speech.  It  gives  us  an  America  under  the  tyranny  of 
prejudice  and  passion  instead  of  an  America  under 
the  sovereignty  of  reason  and  conscience.  The  bug 
bear  of  "Social  Equality"  in  some  form  or  other  has 
been  used  as  a  weapon  against  progress  as  far  back 
as  the  record  of  man's  struggle  for  liberty  goes. 
Douglass  used  it  with  telling  effect  in  his  celebrated 
debate  with  Lincoln. 

To  those  who  maintain  that  all  crimes  against 
womanhood  are  committed  by  Negroes  and  would  dis 
appear  with  the  banishment  of  the  Negro,  I  commend 
the  reading  of  this  bit  of  news  from  Australia,  where 
the  population  is  entirely  Caucasian:  "Sentence  of 
death  has  been  passed  upon  nine  young  men  convicted 
of  outraging  a  servant-girl  16  years  of  age,  near 
Moore  Park,  in  the  suburbs  of  Sydney.  The  circum 
stances  under  which  the  crime  was  committed  were 
revolting  to  the  last  degree.  A  young  girl  of  16,  of 
good  character,  was  decoyed  into  an  unfrequented 
suburb  of  Sydney,  and  there  was  violently  outraged 
by  relays  of  youths  of  16  years  old  and  over.  As  the 
child  was  alone,  amid  a  gang  of  at  least  twelve  strong 
young  ruffians,  her  struggles,  though  violent,  were 
unavailing.  She  was  at  first  held  down  by  her  hands 
and  feet ;  but  after  the  brutality  had  lasted  some  hours 
she  became  unconscious.  One  man  who  attempted  to 
rescue  the  girl  was  overpowered  by  the  gang,  some 
of  whom  had  knives,  and  while  he  fled  to  inform  the 
police  another  man  arrived  on  the  scene  and  witnessed 
the  crime  without  raising  an  alarm.  After  the  last 


116  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

of  the  gang  left  her  she  was  found  by  the  police  sitting 
crying  on  the  bank  of  the  creek.  On  being  removed  to 
the  police  station  it  was  found  impossible  to  make  a 
surgical  examination.  After  a  day  in  the  hospital  she 
was  examined  and  the  evidence  of  her  injuries  con 
firmed.  It  was  not  for  sometime  however,  that  she 
was  able  to  appear  in  the  witness-box.  When  she  did 
she  identified  her  assailants,  and  the  result  is  that  nine 
of  them  are  sentenced  to  death.  The  law  of  the  colony 
prescribes  death  as  a  penalty  for  this  crime.  The 
English  Home  Secretary  has  recommended  that  the 
sentences  of  three  of  the  ruffians  be  commuted  to  im 
prisonment  for  life;  the  other  six  will  be  hanged." 

This  is  no  traveller's  tale,  but  a  plain  criminal 
court  record. 

Ye  who  believe  only  Negroes  are  bartered,  read 
this  from  a  London  paper:  "Horrible  practice  was 
being  carried  on  by  two  men  in  a  certain  house  in 
Bethnal  Green,  aided  by  one  or  more  agents  in  the 
neighborhood.  They  make  a  practice  of  decoying 
young  girls  away  by  means  of  these  agents,  and,  in 
many  cases,  resort  to  the  process  of  going  about  in 
cabs,  snatching  the  girls,  placing  them  inside,  and 
carrying  them  off  to  their  den.  The  men  own  a  ves 
sel  which,  though  ostensibly  an  ordinary  trading  ves 
sel,  yet  carries  from  London  to  the  North  of  England, 
and  in  some  cases  to  the  Continent  the  girls  thus  de 
coyed,  and  hands  them  over  to  brothel-keepers  for  a 
pecuniary  consideration,  although  more  often  than  not 
they  have  already  been  outraged  by  the  men  before 
they  are  thus  bartered.  A  large  number  of  letters,  it 
may  be  added,  from  heart-broken  parents  have  found 
their  way  to  the  Great  Assembly  Hall,  asking  for  Mr. 
Charrington's  assistance  in  trying  to  discover  the 
whereabouts  of  daughters  who  have  been  some  time 
missing." 


Dark   Pages  in    White   Civilization.  117 

In  another  column  of  the  same  paper  occurs  the 
following:  "Further  and  sad  revelations  have  been 
made  in  connection  with  Mr.  H.  F.  Charrington's 
descent  on  disorderly  houses  in  the  East-end. 

"In  a  narrow  turning,  dignified  by  the  title  of  Lady 
Lake's  Grove,  about  fifty  houses  of  ill-fame  were  dis 
covered,  among  the  unfortunate  occupants  of  the  dens 
being  many  girls  as  young  as  12  and  ij  years  of  age, 
who  plied  their  wretched  calling  equally  with  their 
adult  companions.  By  energetically  availing  himself 
of  the  powers  of  the  law  Mr.  Charrington  succeeded 
in  clearing  out  this  hot-bed  of  vice.  Next  he  turned 
his  attention  to  Oxford  Street,  another  East-end 
purlieu.  This  thoroughfare,  in  the  matter  of  the 
character  of  its  inhabitants,  is  described  as  being  even 
a  greater  disgrace  to  public  decency  than  the  'Grove/ 
because,  while  the  'sisterhood'  of  the  latter  carried  on 
their  shameless  trade  in  comparative  privacy,  few 
people  passing  through  on  account  of  its  notorious 
character,  Oxford  Street  is  in  the  unfortunate  posi 
tion  of  being  the  only  means  of  direct  access  to  several 
important  thoroughfares.  The  traffic,  consequently, 
is  considerable  and  continuous,  and  women  and  chil 
dren  have  not  been  able  to  escape  being  witnesses  of 
the  revolting  scenes  arising  out  of  the  solicitation 
going  on  at  every  one  of  the  houses.  Two  or  three 
visits  paid  by  Mr.  Charrington  for  the  purpose  of  col 
lecting  evidence,  combined  with  the  knowledge  of  the 
wholesale  evictions  that  had  been  carried  out  in  the 
'Grove/  seemed  to  have  alarmed  the  miserable  com 
munity,  who  cleared  out  of  their  own  accord. 

"Mr.  Charrington  next  turned  his  attention  to 
Nelson  Street,  a  turning  containing  some  two  dozen 
houses,  the  larger  majority  of  which  are,  or  were, 
dens  of  the  worst  description.  Not  only  were  the 
women  of  the  very  worst  type  of  their  degraded  order, 


118  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

but  they  were  'protected'  by  ruffians  of  the  most  des 
perate  character.  Mr.  Charrington's  visit  to  the 
locality  gave  the  unmitigated  villains  an  opportunity 
of  exercising  their  innate  brutality.  He  was  assaulted 
with  decomposed  fish  and  other  filth,  and  was  so  seri 
ously  threatened  that  the  police  had  to  escort  him  away 
from  the  place.  On  Sunday  evening  Mr.  Charrington 
intended  to  hold  a  short  service  in  Nelson  Street.  The 
way,  however,  was  blocked  by  several  carts,  contain 
ing  men  armed  with  sticks  and  stones ;  and,  as  it  was 
obvious  that  a  murderous  attack  had  been  arranged, 
Mr.  Charrington  prudently  postponed  his  visit.  It  is 
current  rumor  that  the  bullies  of  Canal  Road  have 
threatened  to  drop  Mr.  Charrington  into  the  water 
should  he  appear  in  that  neighborhood,  while  some  of 
the  lower  class  of  publicans,  whose  trade  has  been 
seriously  affected  by  the  sweeping  of  the  Augean 
stables,  are  vowing  all  sorts  of  vengeance  upon  the 
author  of  their  ruin.  The  clearances  which  have 
taken  place  have  brought  to  light  some  revolting  facts, 
showing  the  extensive  character  of  the  shocking  traffic 
which  has  so  long  been  carried  on.  Thus  in  one  house 
were  discovered  no  less  than  45  beds,  which  were  let 
from  55.  to  155.  per  night.  More  painful  than  sur 
prising  were  other  circumstances.  Here  is  an  in 
stance  :  A  gentleman  well  known  in  West-end  society, 
a  year  or  so  ago,  missed  his  daughter.  He  had  reason 
to  believe  that  his  daughter  was  living  in  a  disorderly 
house  in  East-end;  but  the  most  searching  inquiries 
were  fruitless  to  ascertain  her  whereabouts.  In  the 
clearance  of  Nelson  Street,  however,  a  young  woman 
answering  the  description  of  the  missing  daughter  was 
discovered.  The  gentleman  and  his  wife  were 
promptly  on  the  spot,  driving  in  a  handsomely  ap 
pointed  brougham,  attended  by  coachman  and  foot 
man  in  powdered  wigs.  They  identified  their  child, 


Dark   Pages  in    White   Civilization.  119 

who,  however,  was  proof  against  all  parental  ex 
postulation  and  entreaty.  She  firmly  refused  to  leave 
the  people  with  whom  she  had  connected  herself." 

Let  those  who  believe  that  only  the  lack  of  comeli 
ness  and  virtue  in  colored  women  provoke  sexual  bru 
tality  in  the  white  man  read  this  bit  of  fifteen-year-old 
news  from  "Bonnie  Dundee,"  Scotland,  where  pos 
sibly  not  one  of  the  actors  ever  saw  a  Negro :  "In  the 
Police  Court,  Dundee,  before  Bailie  White,  three  lads, 
about  15  or  16  years  of  age,  were  charged  with  having 
assaulted  a  young  woman  named  Jane  Sinclair,  a 
weaver,  residing  in  Overgate,  by  jostling  and  push 
ing  her  about,  knocking  her  down  and  abusing  her 
while  in  Euclid  Crescent.  One  pleaded  guilty  and  the 
other  two  not  guilty.  Jane  Sinclair  deposed  that,  be 
tween  8  and  9  o'clock  on  Monday  night,  she  was  set 
upon  in  Commercial  Street  by  a  gang  of  young  lads, 
the  accused  among  the  number.  She  was  knocked 
down  and  abused  by  the  mob.  Her  companion,  a  girl 
named  Mary  Downie,  made  her  escape,  and  witness 
took  refuge  behind  a  shooting  gallery.  She  remained 
in  concealment  for  about  ten  minutes,  but  when  she 
came  out  the  crowd  was  still  waiting  for  her,  and 
again  she  was  attacked,  mobbed,  and  abused.  The 
mob  followed  her  on  up  Commercial  Street  and  around 
Albert  Square.  In  Euclid  Crescent  she  was  knocked 
down  and  abused  in  an  indecent  manner.  A  man 
named  John  Gary  deposed  that  he  saw  a  mob  of  young 
lads,  and  some  bearded  men  among  them,  following 
the  girl  and  abusing  her.  There  was  a  young  man 
protecting  her,  and  two  policemen  tried  to  disperse 
the  crowd;  but  no  heed  was  paid  to  their  authority. 
When  they  got  into  a  dark  place  in  Euclid  Crescent 
the  mob  set  on  the  girl  and  knocked  her  down.  Wit 
ness  made  a  rush  into  the  midst  of  them,  and  gripped 
one  of  the  prisoners  as  he  was  in  the  act  of  behaving 


120  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

indecently.  The  other  two  were  by  his  side  and  they 
were  secured  by  the  police.  James  Sword  stated  that 
he  saw  a  mob  of  about  200  boys  following  the  girl. 
After  she  came  out  from  hiding  behind  the  shooting 
gallery  witness  accompanied  her  up  Commercial 
Street  on  her  way  to  the  Police  Office,  as  the  only 
place  where  she  could  get  protection  from  her  perse 
cutors.  He  tried  to  keep  back  the  mob  and  he  was 
severely  kicked  about  the  legs.  The  mob  were  acting 
like  savages.  The  girl  was  knocked  down  and 
abused  in  a  shameful  way  in  the  midst  of  the  crowd. 
In  answer  to  the  Court  the  witness  said  there  was 
nothing  peculiar  in  the  girl's  appearance.  The  evi 
dence  was  corroborated  by  two  police  constables.  In 
moving  for  sentence  Mr.  Dewer  said  he  thought  he 
was  justified  in  asking  for  a  sharp  punishment.  At 
tacks  of  this  kind  were  far  too  common  in  Dundee. 
Last  night,  in  another  part  of  the  town,  another 
woman  was  attacked  in  a  similar  manner.  Young 
women  were  entitled  to  protection,  and  it  was  mon 
strous  to  think  that,  between  8  and  9  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  a  woman  should  be  attacked  in  the  public 
street  and  abused  in  a  way  which  could  scarcely  be 
expected  from  savages.  The  Bailie  found  the  charge 
proven,  and  fined  the  accused  2os,  with  the  option  of 
ten  days  in  prison,  each." 

In  the  preface  of  that  masterly  work,  "The  Negro 
in  the  New  World,"  Sir  Harry  Johnston  says:  "In 
Chapters  XIV  and  XV  is  traced  the  history  of  slavery 
in  the  United  States.  It  was  here  that  the  battle  for 
human  freedom  was  fought  on  the  grandest  scale  and 
with  the  most  tremendous  results,  and  consequently 
the  history  of  the  Negro  in  this  part  of  the  world  is 
so  important  that  it  requires  a  more  ample  treatment 
than  is  necessary  for  similar  problems  in  Brazil  or 
Spanish  America.  I  have  felt  it  advisable,  as  the  re- 


Prominent  colored  Americans. 


Dark   Pages  in   White   Civilization.  121 

suit  of  reading  so  many  books  (some  of  them  little 
known),  to  give  an  explicit  account  of  the  exceptional 
cruelties  attending  slavery  in  the  United  States. 
These  cruelties,  perhaps,  were  not  greater  than  what 
went  on  in  British  Barbadoes  or  in  the  Bahama 
Islands,  and  certainly  not  more  outrageous  than  the 
treatment  of  the  Negroes  in  Dutch  Guiana;  but  the 
wickedness  was  on  a  far  greater  scale  geographically, 
and  affected  the  welfare  of  a  much  larger  number  of 
human  beings. 

"Even  this  may  seem  a  thrice-told  tale  and  an  un 
necessary  raking  up  of  embers  that  have  ceased  to 
glow.  I  do  not  think  so.  I  still  believe  that  the  bulk 
of  my  fellow-countrymen  and  the  mass  of  my  possible 
readers  in  North  America  have  not  realized  (with 
our  supersensitive,  twentieth-century  consciousness) 
how  bad  was  the  treatment  of  the  Negro  in  the  South 
eastern  States  of  the  Union  between,  let  us  say,  1790 
and  1860.  This  story  should  be  rewritten  ever  and 
again  'lest  we  forget/  Given  the  same  temptations 
and  the  same  opportunities,  there  is  sufficient  of  the 
devil  still  left  in  white  men  for  the  three  hundred 
years'  cruelties  of  Negro  (or  other)  slavery  to  be 
repeated,  if  it  were  worth  the  white  man's  while,  and 
public  opinion  could  be  drugged  or  purchased.  Per 
haps  some  day  the  white  man's  conscience  may  be 
universally  educated  up  to  the  level  of  Christ's  teach 
ings  and  of  the  gospel  according  to  Exeter  Hall,  and 
the  subject  of  slavery  and  the  slave-trade  can  be 
tacitly  dropped." 

This  is  the  truth,  but  not  the  whole  truth.  "The 
devil  still  left  in  the  white  man"  is  in  the  black  man 
and  in  the  red  man  and  in  the  brown  man  and  in  the 
yellow  man.  Civilization  is  the  only  thing  that  will 
eventually  eradicate  it.  Little  did  Mr.  Johnston  think 
when  he  wrote  those  words  that  there  was  then  reign- 


122  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

ing  in  Europe  a  sovereign  who  would  repeat  in  the 
Netherlands,  in  less  than  a  decade,  the  work  of  Don 
Frederic.  Mr.  Johnston  implies  that  it  is  only  against 
the  black  man  that  the  white  man  shows  the  devil, 
but  Sir  Harry  is  wrong.  Men  do  not  change  their 
dispositions  with  their  company.  Brutality  is  brutal 
ity  and  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  Civilized  white 
Belgium  is  oppressed  just  as  readily  as  uncivilized 
black  Congo.  There  is  always  enough  devil  left  in  a 
man  "to  do  it  again"  if  opportunity  offers.  It  is  vain 
to  talk  of  mternational  peace  until  we  have  intra- 
national  justice.  Until  the  culture  of  justice  domi 
nates  our  educational  system  and  the  spirit  of  fair 
play  actuates  our  religion,  our  national  welfare  is  in 
danger  and  the  peace  of  the  world  insecure.  Patterson 
DuBois8  is  right: — 

"Justice  is  more  than  a  basis  of  ethical  training. 
It  is  essential  to  the  full  efficiency  of  all  forms  of  right 
influences  of  man  upon  man.  It  underlies  all  true  edu 
cation  as  means  and  as  end. 

"Something  that  looks  like  social  reform  or  moral 
improvement  or  a  closer  brotherhood  or  a  truer  unity 
or  a  higher  freedom  or  a  firmer  peace  can  be  accom 
plished  through  the  indefinite  motives  that  we  call 
philanthropy  and  benevolence. 

"But  if  such  reform  has  been  wrought  at  the  ex 
pense  of  a  true  equity,  it  must  in  the  end  prove  a 
delusion.  Unless  philanthropy  has  confided  its  cause 
to  the  exacter  thought  and  the  even,  steady  hand  of 
justice,  it  has  failed  of  its  devine  mission.  Upon  this 
distinction  moral  education  must  focus." 

A  sense  of  justice  is  the  noblest  moral  sentiment  in 
the  nature  of  man.  A  willingness  to  put  one's  self  in 
the  other  one's  stead  is  the  very  essence  of  true  civili 
zation.  As  Emerson  defines  it,  "Justice  consists 
mainly  in  the  granting  to  every  human  being  due  aid 

8  "The  Culture  of  Justice." 


Dark  Pages  in    White   Civilization.  123 

in  the  development  of  such  faculties  as  it  possesses  for 
action  and  enjoyment."  Kant's  great  moral  law  is 
the  quintessence  of  justice :  "So  act  that  thy  deed  will 
not  contradict  itself  if  it  is  made  the  universal  act  of 
all  intelligent  beings." 

Segregation — "Jim  Crowism" — generally,  like 
slavery,  is  in  direct  fundamental  and  irreconcilable 
opposition  to  this  sentiment.  Like  slavery,  of  which 
it  is  the  twin-sister,  it  must  kill  or  be  killed  by  the 
higher  civilization.  They  cannot  survive  together. 

If  I  can  get  the  white  people  to  assume  an  attitude 
of  justice  toward  my  people,  I  shall  have  done  them 
the  greater  service.  A  full  sense  of  justice,  with  the 
will  and  power  to  bestow  it,  raises  a  man  to  grander 
heights  than  any  other  earthly  possession — physical, 
moral,  mental  or  spiritual.  The  grandeur  of  a  nation 
thus  endowed  is  beyond  the  power  of  language  to 
portray. 

The  child  that  has  been  taught  that  injustice  and 
impoliteness  are  proper  when  practised  toward  those 
whom  he  regards  as  inferior,  will  eventually  regard 
all  persons  as  inferior  whom  he  can  thus  treat  with 
personal  advantage  or  safety.  He  is  thus  disquali 
fied  for  a  higher  civilization. 

"Common  justice  is  the  basis  of  all  human  rela 
tions  that  are  right,  and  therefore  permanent.  Priv 
ilege  is  not  the  basis.  Charity  is  not.  Class  interests 
are  not.  Even  mercy,  without  justice,  is  not.  Mercy 
with  justice  is  without  reproach,  but  mercy  without 
justice  is  a  knave's  refuge.  Party  loyalty  is  not  the 
basis.  Neither  is  national  allegiance.  If  a  foundation 
is  not  to  rot,  it  must  be  rock,  and  the  bed-rock  founda 
tion  of  all  human  relations  which  are  right  and  there 
fore  permanent  is  common  justice."^ 

Not  equality,  not  blood,  but  justice  is  the  basis  of 
brotherhood. 


9  Sermon  by  Dr.  J.  I.  Vance,  of  Nashville. 


The  relationship  of  mind  to  matter  is  just  as  certain  as 
the  relationship  of  life  to  matter;  but  the  one  is  no  better 
understood  than  the  other.  Life  and  mind  alike  elude  the 
mensurations  of  matter.  The  laboratory  cannot  answer  the 
whys  of  life  nor  the  wherefores  of  mind. 

"Never  in  the  history  of  man  has  a  race  made  such 
educational  and  material  progress  in  forty  years  as  the 
American  Negro." — REV.  LYMAN  ABBOTT. 

"I  am  quite  resigned  to  our  own  and  the  Negro  races 
occupying  the  South  together,  confident  that  as  time  passes 
the  two  will  view  each  other  with  increasing  regard,  and 
more  and  more  realize  that,  destined  as  they  are  to  dwell 
together,  it  is  advantageous  for  both  that  they  live  in  harmony 
as  good  neighbors  and  labor  for  the  best  interests  of  their 
(common  country." — ANDREW  CARNEGIE,  'The  Negro  in 
America." 


(124) 


CHAPTER  VI. 

STRUGGLING  TO  THE  LIGHT. 

THE  colored  people  of  African  descent,  who  form 
the  so-called  race  problem  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  present  the  interesting  spectacle  of  a  cul 
tural  unity  or  a  race  variety  in  process  of  formation. 
There  is  not  yet  a  Negro  race  in  America,  not  even  in 
name.  Neither  they  themselves,  nor  those  associated 
with  them,  have  been  able  to  agree  upon  a  racial 
designation.  Nomenclature  is  a  necessity  of  speech 
and  is  an  effort  to  describe,  delimit,  and  differentiate 
as  well  as  to  designate. 

Racial  designations,  like  most  proper  names, 
eventually  lose  their  original  significance,  and,  like 
individual  proper  names,  are  usually  derived  from 
physical  or  mental  traits  or  the  dwelling-place  of  the 
designated  one.  Still  another  similarity  is  that  races, 
like  individuals,  usually  have  their  names  thrust  upon 
them.  There  seems  to  be  no  fixed  rule  by  which  racial 
designations  obtain  vogue.  Why  should  the  descend 
ants  of  Abraham  be  called  after  one  of  his  grandsons  ? 
Why  was  this  honor  conferred  upon  Juda  in  prefer 
ence  to  Joseph  or  Benjamin?  The  Jews  themselves 
are  not  fully  decided  between  Jew  and  Hebrew, 
though  outside  pressure  displaced  Israelite  for  Jew. 

If  there  is  confusion  in  the  designation  of  one  of 
the  very  oldest  human  varieties,  it  is  small  wonder  that 
the  name  of  one  of  the  youngest  race  varieties  should 
find  difficulty  in  settling  upon  a  name.  Colored  people, 
Afro-Americans,  and  Negroes  are,  I  think,  the  names 
from  which  we  must  finally  choose. 

The  objections  to  the  word  Negro  as  a  racial 
designation  are  many  and  serious: — 

(125) 


126  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

ist.  //  is  not  true.  The  prevailing  color  among 
Afro-Americans  is  not  black,  but  brown. 

2d.  The  cognate  ideas  associated  with  the  word 
make  it  per  se  objectionable.  It  connotes  the  devil, 
was  used  in  slavery,  and  is  easily  corrupted  into 
"nigger,"  which  was  formerly  applied  indiscriminately 
to  all  people  not  white ;  and  many  of  our  best  Southern 
people  pronounce  it  so  that  the  two  words  are  scarcely 
distinguishable. 

3d.  It  is  not  comprehensive  enough  to  include  all 
our  racial  elements.  There  is  something  grotesque  as 
well  as  untrue  in  calling  a  person  with  white  skin,  blue 
eyes,  and  flaxen  hair,  black.  (See  cut.) 

4th.  It  is  an  adjective  that  is  persistently  written 
with  a  small  letter,  showing  the  unsoundness  of  its 
ethnical  pretensions.  The  word  is  from  the  Latin, 
Niger,  meaning  black,  and  applied  to  the  night,  sky, 
storm,  etc.  The  people  were  called  Ethiops,  or  Afer. 

"It  is  often  asked  what  races  are  Negro,  as  the 
meaning  of  the  term  is  not  well  defined. 
The  word  is  not  a  national  appellation,  but  denotes  a 
physical  type,  of  which  the  tribes  of  North  Guinea  are 
the  representatives.  When  these  characteristics  are 
not  all  present,  the  race  is  not  Negro,  though  black 
and  woolly-haired."  (R.  N.  Cust,  "Mod.  Langs,  of 
Africa,"  p.  53). 

There  is,  therefore,  an  additional  sting  of  race 
prejudice  in  trying  to  fix  this  name  upon  the  colored 
people  of  America.  It  is  not  used  to  designate  a 
physical  quality  of  color,  but  to  circumscribe  our  an 
cestral  home  to  a  certain  part  of  Africa. 

The  most  rampant  negrophobe  will  not  write 
African  with  a  small  letter  unless  he  is  illiterate,  yet 
the  Century  Dictionary  defines  Ethiop  as  an  "African, 
a  negro."  It  certainly  ought  to  be  dropped  as  a  racial 
designation  or  spelled  with  a  capital.  Though  I  have 


Struggling  to   the  Light.  127 

used  the  word  "Negro"  in  this  book,  I  am  inclined  to 
believe  the  term  "Colored"  is  more  comprehensive  and 
truer  to  fact,  nowithstanding  all  the  cheap  wit  that 
has  been  fired  at  it. 

I. — LANGUAGE. 

While  thought  preceded  and  caused  speech,  speech 
reacts  upon  thought.  Language,  according  to  Hux 
ley,  is  the  most  human  of  human  attributes.  In  no 
phase  of  man's  activities  does  injustice  more  fre 
quently  manifest  itself  than  in  language. 

Here  is  where  the  newspapers  become  responsible 
for  the  dangers  of  the  race  problem.1  Any  accusation 
of  crime  is  made  with  big  headlines  in  the  newspapers. 
Corrections  or  retractions  are  never  thus  made.  The 
immense  power  of  language  is  thus  used  to  promote 
strife.  Mobs  originate  in  epithets  as  often  as  in  crime. 
The  intellectual  forces  of  associated  ideas  are  used  to 
generate  race  antagonism.  This  works  one  of  the 
greatest  hardships  the  colored  man  has  to  bear,  and 
is  the  most  potent  force  for  evil  in  the  race  situation. 

Thought  precedes  action.  The  function  creates 
the  organ.  Man  has  a  stomach  because  he  digests. 
He  does  not  digest  because  he  has  a  stomach.  Organs 
exist  because  they  are  needed.  They  are  not  needed 
because  they  exist. 

Men  thought  before  they  spoke.  Thought  created 
language.  Language  is  the  medium  by  which  one 
person's  thoughts  may  reach  another ;  and  is  the  most 
potent  means  by  which  men  influence  each  other.  It 
thus  becomes  a  very  forceful  factor  in  environment, 
and  reacts  in  a  way  to  influence  character.  Words 
created  by  thought  become  the  molders  of  thought.  A 
man's  character  may  be  determined  by  his  language, 

1  See  Appendix  E. 


128  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

and  is  in  a  measure  formed  thereby.  For  instance, 
there  is  a  verb  in  Italian  which  means  to  destroy  the 
sight  by  holding  a  red-hot  iron  close  to  the  eye.  Is  it 
not  evident  that  cruelty  was  in  the  character  of  the 
generation  that  produced  such  a  horrible  verb?  Is  it 
not  equally  evident  that  the  character  of  those  learn 
ing  to  use  that  verb  would  be  unfavorably  affected  by 
its  meaning?  So  with  the  English  verb  "burke"  which 
means  to  murder  a  person  by  suffocation  for  the  price 
his  body  will  bring  at  the  dissecting  table. 

What  a  world  of  horrors  lurks  in  the  word  lynch ! 
The  character  of  the  American  people  has  been  influ 
enced  for  lawlessness  by  the  use  of  that  word. 

Can  you  not  judge  accurately  the  sexual  morals 
of  the  Bushmen,  when  you  find  that  they  have  but  one 
word  for  "girl,  maiden,  wife"?  Does  the  fruit  more 
surely  indicate  the  tree  than  conversation  marks  the 
man  ?  Profanity  is  the  verbal  violence  that  is  sure  to 
injuriously  affect  conduct. 

Slangy  language  begets  impure  morals.  Each  is 
but  the  disregard  of  the  standards  erected  by  the  wis 
dom  of  the  past.  Rag-time  was  the  legitimate  pro 
genitor  of  the  tango. 

Violence  of  language  leads  to  violence  of  action. 
Angry  men  seldom  fight  if  their  tongues  do  not  lead 
the  fray.  Mobs,  as  I  said  before,  originate  in  epithet 
oftener  than  in  crime,  and  the  race  situation  is  un 
necessarily  complicated  by  our  language.  It  is  right 
and  beneficial  for  us  to  reverence  the  past,  but  it  is 
foolish,  injurious,  and  degrading  for  us  to  perpetuate 
in  our  conversation  the  epithets  that  an  era  of  thral 
dom  brought  forth. 

Noble  language  means  noble  thoughts  and  noble 
thoughts  mean  noble  deeds.  Impropriety  of  speech 
will  eventually  lead  to  impropriety  of  conduct. 

The  coiner  of  a  happy  phrase  is  a  benefactor  of 


Successful  young  colored  Americans. 


Struggling  to   the  Light.  129 

mankind.  Ben  Butler's  tongue  was  mightier  than 
his  sword  when  he  coined  the  phrase  "contraband  of 
war/'  as  the  proper  designation  for  the  fugitive  slaves 
coming  into  the  Union  lines.  " Sambo's  right  to  be 
kilt"  from  the  verbal  battery  of  some  unknown  Irish 
songster  demolished  the  opposition  to  the  enlistment  of 
colored  soldiers  in  the  Union  Army. 

Elbert  Hubbard  says  truly:  "Emerson  added  to 
the  wealth  of  the  world  when  he  gave  us  the  expres 
sion,  the  'law  of  compensation/  Herbert  Spencer  did 
the  same  thing  when  he  referred  to  the  'law  of  dimin 
ishing  returns/  : 

Words  are  tools  and  derisive  nicknames  are  verbal 
brickbats  with  which  to  demolish  the  respectability  of 
those  derided.  A  man  ought  not  always  to  "holler 
when  he  is  hit,"  but  he  is  a  fool  to  furnish  the  brick 
bats  to  his  enemy.  That  is  why  the  receiver  of  a  nick 
name  seldom  enjoys  it.  I  have  heard  Irishmen  called 
"Paddies,"  Frenchmen  called  "Johnnies,"  Italians 
called  "Dagoes,"  Jews  called  "Sheenies,"  and  Negroes 
called  "Darkies,"  but  have  never  seen  any  of  them  that 
did  not  resent  it.  The  Negro  alone  is  blamed  for  so 
doing. 

I  once  made  an  experiment  to  test  the  effect  on 
the  Caucasian  of  a  species  of  linguistic  harassment  so 
constantly  practised  against  the  Negro  and  so  bitterly 
resented  by  him.  The  result  was  illuminating. 

I  received  a  letter  giving  my  correct  address  in 
every  detail,  even  to  my  full  name  and  title.  Yet  the 
writer  added  an  adjective  thus:  Dr.  Chas.  Victor 
Roman,  Colored. 

That  exact  name  and  address  could  not  be  dupli 
cated  in  the  United  States,  and  I  owned  the  property 
indicated  by  the  street  number.  Why  this  adjective? 
I  was  offended.  Then  I  began  to  think  maybe  I  was 
too  sensitive  and  I  decided  to  test  it.  I  answered  the 


130  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

letter  politely  and  favorably  and  addressed  it  to  Mr. 
Patrick  O'Leary,  Irish. 

He  came  around  to  fight  me.  This  I  avoided  by 
diplomacy. 

"Oh!"  said  I,  innocently,  at  the  same  time  pro 
ducing  his  letter  to  me;  "I  thought  you  regarded  a 
man's  race  as  part  of  his  address." 

He  saw  the  point  and  laughed,  promising  never  to 
be  guilty  again. 

II. — A  DISCOVERY. 

"The  soul's  strange  miracle  of  memory 
Makes  me  the  guest  of  mine  own  past.     I  dream." 

The  textbooks  and  discussions  of  my  youth  are 
before  me.  There  is  no  question  as  to  the  superiority 
of  the  white  man.  All  other  races  were  indifferently 
"niggers"  and  inferior.  The  white  man  then  meant 
the  European  as  he  then  was.  The  geographies  made 
European  and  white  synonymous.  No  nation  but  a 
white  nation  could  stop  a  white  nation  in  battle.  But 
Prince  Bonaparte  went  down  in  South  Africa  and 
Gordon  met  his  doom  in  North  Africa.  Memories  of 
the  Sikh  rebellion  were  revived,  but  the  white  man 
was  eventually  victorious  and  the  proposition  held 
good.  Finally  white  man  didn't  mean  "white"  at  all, 
but  meant  Aryan.  This  was  a  veritable  find;  for  it 
made  the  white  man  the  author  of  everything  worth 
while  in  human  history.  Anybody  that  had  done  any 
thing  was  "white"  regardless  of  color,  condition, 
locality,  or  feature. 

Mr.  Keane,  the  High  Priest  of  racial  inequality 
says:  "The  typical  Gallas  of  Kaffa  and  surrounding 
uplands  are  perhaps  the  finest  people  in  all  Africa,  tall, 
of  shapely  build,  with  high,  broad  foreheads;}  well- 
formed  mouth,  Roman  nose,  oval  face,  coppery  or 


Struggling  to   the  Light.  131 

light-chocolate  color,  black,  kinky  hair,  often  worn 
in  'finger  curls'  or  short  ringlets  round  the  head 
— altogether  noble  representatives  of  the  Caucasic 
family."2 

The  logic  is  simple,  as  Butler's : — 

"Treason  never  succeeds.     What's  the  reason? 
If  it  succeed,  no  one  dare  call  it  treason." 

The  Negro  never  made  any  history,  because  if 
anybody  ever  made  any  history  he  was  not  a  Negro. 
Thus,  by  circular  reasoning  they  make  their  position 
invincible.  The  ethnological  status  of  the  Japanese 
was  subject  to  immediate  revision  after  the  second 
Port  Arthur  engagement;  and  the  fate  of  an  Italian 
expedition  has  changed  the  racial  classification  of  the 
Abyssinians. 

The  advocates  of  white  superiority  are  sorely  put 
to  it.  Formerly,  as  I  have  just  said,  all  people  not 
white  were  indiscriminately  called  "niggers";  but 
now,  not  even  Africans  are  "niggers"  except  they  be 
prognathous  and  savage.  Hence  the  effort  is  to  fasten 
upon  the  American  Negro  this  type  of  African  an 
cestry.  The  wider  significance  with  which  the  word 
Negro  and  its  colloquial  corruption  "nigger"  was 
formerly  used  is  well  illustrated  by  the  language  of 
the  Confederate  Constitution,  which  says:  "The  im 
portation  of  Negroes  of  the  African  race,3  from  any 
foreign  country  other  than  the  slave-holding  States 
or  Territories  of  the  United  States  of  America,  is 
hereby  forbidden;  and  Congress  is  required  to  pass 
such  laws  as  shall  effectually  prevent  the  same." 

Belief  in  racial  superiority  is  a  world-wide  ego 
tism.  The  lowest  races  think  themselves  superior. 
The  Greenlanders  think  they  are  the  only  civilized 

2  Keane,  "Ethnology,"  pages  387,  388. 

3  Italics  mine. 


132  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

people,4  the  Gallas  call  themselves  the  "Sons  of  the 
Brave/'5  and  the  Hottentot  Chief  is  as  sure  and  proud 
of  his  superiority  as  a  German  professor  or  a  Missis 
sippi  politician.  Modern  writers  and  German  apolo 
gists  are  speaking  with  a  great  deal  of  contempt  of 
"the  inherent  superficiality"  of  England,  France,  and 
other  countries.  Just  now  in  Europe  they  are  appeal 
ing  to  the  Court  of  Mars  for  a  decision  on  racial 
superiority. 

The  deepest  meaning  of  democracy  is  equality  of 
opportunity.  Its  greatest  enemy  is  the  spirit  of  the 
temple- worshipper  that  thanked  God  that  he  (the 
worshipper)  was  not  like  other  men.  The  master 
always  considers  himself  superior  to  the  servant.  In 
dividual  opinion  easily  becomes  a  group  opinion. 
Caste  is  born  of  prejudice.  Localities  develop  differ 
ences,  and  differences  of  form  or  differences  of  man 
ner  are  interpreted  by  the  average  individual  in  terms 
of  superiority  and  inferiority.  Thus  race  prejudice 
is  born. 

Race  prejudice  is  a  superstition  which  only  wider 
knowledge  of  mankind  can  cure.  The  individual  or 
race  takes  the  personal  or  home  feature  as  the  norm 
or  standard,  and  condemns  all  deviations  therefrom. 
The  greater  the  difference,  the  more  intense  the 
prejudice.  Intimate  personal  knowledge  is  the  only 
remedy. 

This  I  learned  while  a  college  lad.  I  had  been 
taught  the  narrow  prejudice  that  the  Christian  world 
then  held  against  the  Jewish  race.  In  morals  they 
were  murderers ;  in  business  they  were  cheats. 

It  was  bitterly  cold  (20  below)  and  everywhere 
was  so  icy  that  a  lame  boy  could  scarcely  stand  on  his 
crutches.  There  was  by  the  wayside  a  Jewish  peddler 
occupying  a  small  house  on  wheels.  The  front  part 

4  Dana.        5  Keane. 


Struggling  to    the  Light.  133 

was  a  shop,  where  he  did  soldering,  umbrella  and  cane 
repairing,  etc.  The  boy  had  15  cents  to  get  his  lunch 
at  12  o'clock.  The  thought  struck  him  to  get  "Isaac," 
as  we  called  the  long-bearded  old  man,  to  drive  a  nail 
in  the  bottom  of  each  crutch,  cut  off  the  head  and  file 
the  remainder  to  a  point,  thus  making  a  brad  that 
would  prevent  the  crutches  from  slipping  on  the  ice. 
Possibly  he  would  not  charge  more  than  ten  cents. 
This  would  leave  five  cents  for  the  lunch. 

When  approached,  the  old  man  said  our  ideas  were 
all  right  and  it  would  work  fine,  but  would  not  look 
well  nor  last  long.  He,  however,  would  fix  it  all  right. 
When  we  saw  him  reach  up  and  get  two  brass  collars, 
we  anxiously  asked  would  he  not  do  what  we  re 
quested,  for  we  had  but  ten  cents  to  spare.  He 
laughed  at  us  and  proceeded  over  our  protest  to  do  a 
job  worth  seventy-five  cents  or  a  dollar  while  we  saw 
visions  of  "a  pound  of  flesh"  exacted  with  no  Portia 
to  plead  our  cause.  Finally  the  job  was  done  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  mechanic  and  the  lad  was  bidden  to 
test  it.  This  he  could  hardly  do  for  dread  of  the  bill. 

"How  much?"  he  tremblingly  asked,  amid  the 
breathless  silence  of  his  companions. 

"How  much?"  kindly  repeated  the  old  man. 
"Nothing,"  said  he,  gently  but  firmly,  adding:  "Only 
this,  always  be  kind  to  people  in  trouble."  We  de 
parted  in  silence,  gratitude,  and  wonderment,  thinking 
not  of  Shylock,  but  of  the  Good  Samaritan. 

Thus  was  sown  the  seed  that  liberalized  my  mind 
and  made  me  one  of  those 

"Who  dream  the  dream  of  true  democracy, 
Of  happy  workers  in  a  happy  state," 

and  who  look  forward  to  the  day  when 

"Knowledge  hand-in-hand  with  truth 
Shall  walk  the  earth  abroad." 


134  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

With  races  as  with  individuals,  happiness  is  best 
conserved  by  a  knowledge  of  each  other's  virtues. 
Science  knows  no  innately  superior  race,  nor  any  hope 
lessly  inferior  one,  and  the  world  has  not  yet  seen  a 
thoroughly  civilized  one.  Basicly,  men  are  much 
alike.  Accomplishment  is  oftener  the  result  of  en 
vironment  and  superior  opportunity  than  of  superior 
capacity  or  innate  effectiveness. 

III. — THE  INDIAN. 

The  Negro's  docility  is  often  used  as  an  argument 
against  him,  and  he  is  disadvantageously  compared 
with  the  American  Indian.  Courage  is  conditional 
and  valor  is  circumstantial.  The  spirit  of  the  bravest 
man  may  be  broken  by  oppression.  Hear  what  Pro 
fessor  Ross  says  of  the  South  American  Indian: — 

"There  could  be  no  more  eloquent  testimony  to  the 
barbarities  of  Pizarro  and  his  ruffians  than  the  timid, 
propitiatory  attitude  of  the  Indians  toward  all  white 
men.  Every  man,  woman,  and  child  we  met  on  the 
road  doffed  the  hat  as  we  passed,  and  respectfully 
wished  us  'Buenos  dias'  or  'Buenos  tardes.'  In  the 
remoter  districts  an  Indian  who  sees  a  white  man 
coming  toward  him  along  the  trail  will  make  a  long 
and  toilsome  detour  to  avoid  meeting  him.  If  you 
approach  an  Indian  abruptly  to  ask  him  a  question,  he 
will  fall  on  his  knees,  put  up  an  arm  to  shield  his  face, 
and  cry,  'Don't  hurt  me,  master !'  The  Indian  never 
thinks  of  chaffering  over  the  price  of  his  services. 
The  patron  pays  a  porter  what  he  chooses;  and  if  the 
Indian  murmurs,  a  harsh  'Begone,'  causes  him  to 
shrink  away."  (Edward  A.  Ross.) 

The  editor  of  the  New  Republic  (Nov.  28,  1914) 
quotes  a  sentence  about  racial  traits  from  E.  A.  Ross, 
and  comments  pungently  thereon:— 


Struggling  to    the  Light.  135 

"PRIDE  OF  RACE. — There  were  so  many  sugar-loaf 
heads,  moon-faces,  slit  mouths,  lantern- jaws,  and 
goosebill  noses  (among  the  gatherings  of  the  foreign- 
born)  that  one  might  imagine  a  malicious  jinni  had 
amused  himself  by  casting  human  beings  in  a  set  of 
skew  molds."  (Professor  Edward  A.  Ross,  in  "The 
Old  World  in  the  New/') 

Professor  Ross  has  come  from  the  Middle  West, 
looked  upon  man  made  in  the  image  of  God,  and  pro 
claimed  that  except  as  produced  in  America  he  does 
not  justify  the  Divine  craftsmanship.  He  has  watched 
the  poor  immigrants  struggling  up  the  gang-plank, 
has  seen  them  herded  in  the  roped  enclosures  of  Ellis 
Island,  has  studied  them  as  they  issued,  workworn, 
from  factory  gates  and  sweat-shops,  and  has  from 
some  gallery  or  other  looked  down  upon  them,  as 
brushed  and  combed  and  clothed  in  their  best,  they 
gathered  to  celebrate  weddings  and  christenings  and 
funerals,  occasions  when  common  people  are  wont  to 
laugh  or  cry.  And  as  he  looked  down  upon  these  men 
and  women,  Professor  Ross,  who  is  of  a  race  of  which 
he  is  justly  proud,  studied  their  faces,  their  hands, 
and  their  manners,  and  noted  that  these  were  "sub- 
common"  people,  "hirsute,  low-browed,  big-faced,  of 
obviously  low  mentality, — in  short,  of  the  Caliban 
type."  Foreigners,  he  observes,  at  least  those  for 
eigners  who  come  as  immigrants  to  America,  are  in 
the  main  unbeautiful.  There  is  a  certain  "fleeting, 
ephemeral  bloom  of  girlhood,"  but  otherwise  among 
the  women  "beauty  is  quite  lacking."  He  fears  that 
American  good  looks  will  disappear  as  all  this 
European  ugliness  works  to  the  surface.  "It  is  un 
thinkable,"  writes  Professor  Ross,  "that  so  many 
persons  with  crooked  faces,  coarse  mouths,  bad  noses, 
heavy  jaws,  and  low  foreheads  can  mingle  their 
heredity  with  ours  without  making  personal  beauty 
yet  more  rare  among  us  than  it  actually  is." 


136  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

Nor  is  it  in  good  looks  alone  that  the  immigrant  is 
deficient.  These  foreigners,  as  Professor  Ross  ob 
serves,  are  undersized,  especially  the  Italians,  who  are 
dwarfish,  and  the  Jews,  who  are  very  poor  in  physique. 
The  Slavs,  he  admits,  have  vitality,  are  "immune  to 
certain  kinds  of  dirt"  and  "can  stand  what  would  kill 
a  white  man";  but  even  this  vitality  disappears  in  a 
generation  or  two  of  American  life.  As  for  honesty, 
fair  play,  decency,  and  morality,  Professor  Ross  is 
certain  that  the  new  immigrants  are  below  the  earlier 
types.  The  Syrian  is  a  liar  and  a  cheat,  the  South 
Italian  is  a  liar  and  a  cheat,  the  Greek  and  the  Jews  are 
liars  and  cheats,  and  these  are  the  races  which  are  to 
people  America,  and  bear  the  children  that  Ameri 
cans,  dismayed  by  this  immigration,  refuse  to  bear. 
America  is  itself  to  blame.  "A  people  that  has  no 
more  respect  for  its  ancestors  and  no  more  pride  of 
race  than  this,  deserves  the  extinction  that  surely 
awaits  it." 

After  reading  Professor  Ross,  we  wonder  whether 
pride  of  race,  however  justifiable,  is  in  itself  a  suffi 
cient  equipment  for  passing  judgment  upon  a  problem 
as  intricate  as  that  of  immigration.  We  do  not  wish 
to  prejudice  the  question,  for  Professor  Ross's  inade 
quate  defense  still  leaves  that  policy  defensible.  But 
Professor  Ross,  entering  the  arena  armed  with  racial 
snobbishness,  should  know  that  it  is  exactly  such 
facile  generalizations  as  he  has  made  which  becloud 
knowledge,  and  evoke  equally  offensive  and  absurd 
assumptions  from  the  other  side.  From  an  ignorant 
disputant  nothing  better  might  be  expected,  but  Pro 
fessor  Ross  is  an  erudite  and  brilliant  man,  with  access 
to  the  learning  of  the  world.  A  scholar  so  equipped 
has  no  more  excuse  for  meeting  difficult  anthropo 
logical  problems  with  the  superficial  observations  of  a 
cub  reporter  than  a  wealthy  man  has  excuse  for  turn 
ing  counterfeiter. 


Cettiwayo,  Zulu  chieftain  who  annihilated  British  regiment. 


Struggling  to    the  Light.  137 

When  we  seriously  seek  to  unravel  the  infinitely 
complex  problem  of  the  effect  of  racial  intermixture 
upon  national  character,  many  perplexing  questions 
present  themselves.  What,  for  example,  is  the  effect 
of  good  food  upon  good  looks  ?  What  is  the  influence 
of  the  better  economic  conditions  of  America  upon 
cleanliness,  courage,  truthfulness,  and  physical  vital 
ity?  To  what  extent  has  our  declining  birth  rate 
really  been  the  result  of  immigration,  and  to  what  ex 
tent  has  it  been  due  to  other  economic  and  social  causes 
equally  operative  elsewhere?  What  are  the  inter 
actions  between  social  environment  and  heredity,  and 
what  are  the  economic  and  historical  roots  of  that 
very  race-snobbishness  which  takes  the  form  in  each 
nation  of  assumed  racial  superiority  and  a  contemp 
tuous  attitude  toward  lesser  breeds  ? 


IV. — REAPING  WHERE  OTHERS  Sow. 

I  lay  no  claim  to  originality.  The  fields  of  erudi 
tion  that  have  sustained  my  intellect  and  refreshed  my 
spirits  were  ready  for  harvesting  when  I  was  born. 
The  cities  of  my  residence  I  did  not  build  and  the  vine 
yards  of  my  comforts  I  did  not  plant.  I  have  never 
built  a  railroad  nor  launched  a  steamship,  and  while  I 
have  enjoyed  them  both,  I  have  never  wrecked  the  one 
nor  scuttled  the  other. 

"Sometimes  when  we  look  back  over  the  gulf  of  the 
centuries,  ...  a  feeling  of  hopelessness  and 
despondency  is  apt  to  dampen  the  ardor  of  the  boldest 
and  most  sanguine  among  us.  It  would  seem  some 
times  that  our  work  is  that  of  Sisyphus,  destined  for 
ever  to  roll  the  heavy  stone  up  the  steep,  which  always, 
when  we  have,  by  intense  toil,  raised  it  to  a  certain 
height,  rolls  down  again  and  crushes  us.  But  be  of 
good  cheer,  fellow-soldiers  in  the  vanguard  of  Liberty, 


138  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

fellow-workers  in  the  field  of  Humanity.  True,  much 
is  to  be  overcome;  but  already  much  has  been 
won.  . 

"The  day  is  dawning,  though  the  clouds  obscure 
it.  ...  The  fires  of  martyrdom  are  quenched, 
the  light  of  day  has  flashed  through  the  roof  of  the 
dungeon,  the  gibbet  is  overthrown,  and  the  torture 
engine  is  broken."6 

There  is  an  heroic  race  of  men  who  are  doers  of 
the  world,  the  flower  of  their  kind.  They  stood  in  the 
Pass  of  Thermopylae  and  made  a  hundred  spears  dead 
lier  than  a  million.  They  held  the  Alpine  highways 
against  the  covetous  Austrian  hordes.  They  forgot 
arithmetic  at  Balaklava  and  transmuted  four  hundred 
Sheffield  sabers  into  magic  falchions.  They  lighted 
the  torch  of  learning  while  the  battle  for  freedom  was 
raging  and  opened  the  Halls  of  Knowledge  to  manu 
mitted  slaves.  They  sped  the  triremes  at  Salamis  and 
redeemed  a  race  at  Ft.  Wagner.  They  lashed  the  sails 
of  Drake  and  manned  the  cannon  of  Perry.  They 
crawled  across  the  Arctic  ice.  They  cut  their  way 
through  the  tangles  of  mid-Africa.  Few  of  their 
names  are  known  and  few  of  their  graves  are  marked, 
but  the  glory  of  their  courage  is  imperishable — a  heri 
tage  for  all  tomorrows — a  spark  to  heat  the  blood  and 
to  fire  the  future  generations  with  inspiration. 

They  are  of  no  particular  sect,  nor  caste,  nor  race. 
They  are  born  alike  from  the  loins  of  peasant  and  of 
peer.  Their  fraternity  is  not  of  breed,  nor  brain,  nor 
brawn,  but  of  truth.  Duty  is  their  mission  and  its 
fulfillment  their  ultimate  hope. 

"They  wage  for  the  ages  and  not  for  the  wages/' 

Like  the  number  that  John  saw,  they  have  come 
up  through  great  tribulations,  from  every  kindred  and 
tongue  and  people. 


e  Saladin,  "God  and  His  Book." 


Struggling  to    the  Light.  139 

"Fellow-soldiers  in  Liberty's  Army,  shoulder  to 
shoulder,  let  us  march  on,  undaunted,  unsubdued! 
Our  dower  is  the  splendid  heroism  of  our  fathers. 
Let  us  hand  it  down  to  our  children  with 
its  glory  undimmed,  so  that  a  not  remote  future  may 
shout  for  joy  that  the  long  war  is  over,  that  the  vic 
tory  is  won,  that  the  world  is  free!"7 

The  great  forces  of  heredity  and  evolution  are  still 
at  work.  As  Pennsylvania  outlived  her  black  laws,  so 
will  Louisiana.  Mississippi  will  as  certainly  quit 
Negro-baiting  as  Massachusetts  quit  burning  witches. 
Negro  social  equality  with  the  white  man  is  no  more 
real  and  menacing  than  witchcraft,  and  will  finally 
take  its  place  in  the  limbo  of  forgotten  superstitions 
that  have  marred  the  happiness  and  retarded  the 
progress  of  mankind.  Civilization  will  yet  come  into 
its  own. 

"America  has  still  a  long  vista  of  years  stretching 
before  her  in  which  she  will  enjoy  conditions  far  more 
auspicious  than  any  European  country  can  count  on. 
And  that  America  marks  the  highest  level,  not  only  of 
material  well-being,  but  of  intelligence  and  happiness, 
which  the  race  has  yet  attained,  will  be  the  judgment 
of  those  who  look  not  at  the  favored  few  for  whose 
benefit  the  world  seems  hitherto  to  have  framed  its 
institutions,  but  on  the  whole  body  of  the  people/'8 

Ubid. 

8  James  Bryce,  "Social  Institutions  of  the  United  States." 


"Woe  unto  the  world  because  of  offences,  for  it  must 
needs  be  that  offences  come,  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom 
the  offence  cometh.  If  we  shall  suppose  that  American 
slavery  is  one  of  those  offences  which,  in  the  providence  of 
God,  must  needs  come,  but  which,  having  continued  through 
His  appointed  time,  He  now  wills  to  remove,  and  that  He 
gives  to  both  North  and  South  this  terrible  war  as  the  woe 
due  to  those  by  whom  the  offence  came,  shall  we  discern  there 
any  departure  from  those  Divine  attributes  which  the  believers 
in  a  living  God  always  ascribe  to  Him?  Fondly  do  we  hope, 
fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may 
speedily  pass  away.  Yet  if  God  wills  that  it  continue  until 
all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondsman's  two  hundred  years  of 
unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of  blood 
drawn  by  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  another  drawn  by  the 
sword,  as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still  must  be 
said,  that  the  judgments  of  God  are  true  and  righteous 
altogether." — LINCOLN'S  2d  Inaugural  Address. 

"Law  is  not  law  if  it  violates  the  principles  of  eternal 
justice." — LYDIA  MARIA  CHILD. 


(140) 


CHAPTER  VII. 

AFRICAN  SLAVERY  IN  AMERICA 
I. 

"No  plague  that  ever  tainted  the  globe,  nor  war 
that  ever  devastated  our  planet,  has,  to  the  extent  that 
slavery  has  done,  left  its  blight  and  curse  upon  the 
race  of  man.  .  .  .  Christian  slavery  is  the  Gol 
gotha  of  History."  The  very  name,  Christian  slavery, 
is  a  tragedy.  Nor  has  the  white  man  been  the  only 
offender,  nor  has  the  black  man  been  the  only  victim. 

John  Wesley  very  vividly  and  truly  described 
slavery  as  "the  sum  of  human  villainies."  It  is  cer 
tainly  the  climax  of  injustice.  There  is  one  absolutely 
unanswerable  argument  against  slavery.  It  is  unfair. 
The  ethics  of  Moses  made  slavery  possible ;  the  ethics 
of  Paul  made  slavery  endurable;  the  ethics  of  Jesus 
made  slavery  impossible. 

In  his  second  inaugural  address  Abraham  Lincoln 
stated  fully  this  phase  of  the  case:  "It  may  seem 
strange  that  any  men  should  dare  to  ask  a  just  God's 
assistance  in  wringing  their  bread  from  the  sweat  of 
other  men's  faces;  but  let  us  judge  not,  that  we  be 
not  judged.  .  .  .  The  Almighty  has  His  own 
purposes." 

Wm.  Henry  Seward  said :  "One  of  the  chief  ele 
ments  of  the  value  of  human  life  is  freedom  in  the 
pursuit  of  happiness.  The  slave  system  is  not  only  in 
tolerable,  unjust,  and  inhuman  toward  the  laborer, 
whom,  only  because  he  is  a  laborer,  it  loads  down  with 
chains  and  converts  into  merchandise,  but  is  scarcely 
less  severe  upon  the  freeman,  to  whom,  only  because 

(141) 


142  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

he  is  a  laborer  from  necessity,  it  denies  facilities  for 
employment,  and  whom  it  expells  from  the  community 
because  it  cannot  enslave  and  convert  into  merchan 
dise  also.  It  is  necessarily  improvident  and  ruinous, 
because,  as  a  general  truth,  communities  prosper  and 
flourish  or  droop  and  decline,  in  just  the  degree  that 
they  practise  or  neglect  to  practise  the  primary  duties 
of  justice  and  humanity." 

To  show  the  picture  is  not  overdrawn,  I  will  in 
troduce  three  items  from  the  other  side : — 

1.  Robert  Toombs,  in  a  speech  to  the  United  States 
Senate  on  January  7,  1861,  made  five  stipulations  or 
demands,  as  follows:  (i)  That  the  Southern  people 
be  allowed  to  emigrate  and  settle  in  any  part  of  the 
United  States  with  any  property  they  possess  (includ 
ing  slaves)   and  be  protected  by  the  United  States 
government.     (2)  That  property  in  slaves  receive  the 
same  treatment  from  the  United  States  government 
as  any  other  property.     (3)  That  persons  who  com 
mit  crimes  against  the  slave  property  in  one  State  and 
flee  to  another  State  shall  be  delivered  to  and  tried 
by  the  State  wherein  the  crime  was  committed.     (4) 
That  fugitive  slaves  be  returned  to  their  masters  with 
out  the  right  of  habeas  corpus  proceedings  or  trial  by 
jury  or  "other  similar  obstruction  to  legislation."    (5) 
That  laws  be  passed  to  punish  any  persons  in  any 
State  who  aid  or  abet  invasion  or  insurrection  in  any 
other  State. 

2.  The  Supreme  Court  of  North  Carolina  in  1829 
laid  it  down  that  "The  end  of  slavery  is  the  profit  of 
the  master,  his  security,  and  the  public  safety.     The 
subject  is  one  doomed  in  his  ozvn  person,  and  his  pos 
terity  to  live  without  knowledge  and  without  the  capac 
ity  to  make  anything  his  oivn,  and  to  toil  that  another 
may  reap  the  fruits.    The  power  of  the  master  must  be 
absolute  to  render  the  submission  of  the  slave  perfect." 


African  Slavery  in  America.  143 

3.  Even  as  late  as  1856  the  Constitution  of  Mary 
land  enacted  that  a  Negro  convicted  of  murder  should 
have  the  right  hand  cut  off,  should  be  hanged  in  the 
usual  manner,  the  head  severed  from  the  body,  the 
body  divided  into  four  quarters,  and  the  head  and 
quarters  set  up  in  the  most  public  places  of  the  county 
where  such  act  was  committed. 

The  descent  of  the  white  man  upon  the  west  coast 
of  Africa  and  the  east  coast  of  America  was  a  sad 
day  for  humanity;  for  it  ushered  in  "the  bloodiest 
chapter  in  the  book  of  time."  The  native  American 
was  ruthlessly  murdered  and  robbed  of  his  patrimony, 
and  the  African  was  thought  to  have  no  rights  that 
a  white  man  should  respect.  How  the  African  sur 
vived  this  ordeal  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  that  mys 
terious  land.  To  get  an  idea  of  what  the  African 
really  endured  in  America,  let  us  see  how  the  natives 
were  treated  by  the  European  invaders.  I  quote  from 
a  Catholic  Bishop : — 

"The  West  Indies  swarmed  with  a  multitude  of 
people  as  an  emmet-hill  swarms  with  emmets.  But 
they  were  murdered,  and  most  cruelly  made  way  with 
by  the  Spaniards  and  the  priests,  though  they  never 
committed  any  offense  that  deserved  punishment  by 
man.  When  the  country  was  discovered  these  mur 
derers  entered  like  wolves  and  tigers  long  famished, 
and  did  nothing  but  tear  them  in  pieces  and  torment 
them  by  cruelties  never  read  nor  heard  of  before. 
.  The  miserable  people  died  on  the  road  when 
carrying  burdens  for  their  oppressors.  If,  through 
faintness,  they  sank  down,  they  had  their  teeth  broken 
by  the  pommels  of  the  Spanish  sword  to  make  them 
rise  and  go.  These  tormentors  spared  neither  chil 
dren  nor  old  persons,  nor  even  women  with  child,  nor 
such  as  lay  in  child-bed;  but  would  rip  them  up  and 
chop  them  in  pieces  as  if  they  had  been  butchering 


144  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

lambs.  They  would  lay  wagers  who  would  most 
readily  and  nimbly  despatch  them.  They  kept  dogs 
for  hunting  down  the  Indians,  and  fed  them  on  the 
bodies  they  caught ;  keeping  great  numbers  in  chains, 
whom  they  murdered  like  swine  when  their  dogs  were 
hungry.  One  man  wanting  meat  for  his  dogs,  took  a 
child  from  its  mother,  and,  chopping  it  in  pieces,  flung 
it  down  for  their  eating.  A  woman  who  was  sick  and 
dreaded  the  dogs  hung  herself,  having  tied  her  child 
to  her  feet.  An  especially  gratifying  deed  was  to  set 
up  thirteen  low  gibbets  in  honor  of  Christ  and  His 
twelve  apostles,  and  to  hang  and  burn  thirteen  per 
sons  on  each.  They  threw  down  from  a  high  cliff 
seven  hundred  men  together,  who  fell  like  a  cloud  to 
the  ground  and  were  battered  to  pieces.  In  three 
months  they  famished  seven  thousand  infants.  On 
one  day  they  massacred  two  thousand  sons  of  the  chief 
natives,  and  dishonored  and  slaughtered  thousands 
of  females  in  a  manner  that  cannot  be  mentioned.  In 
the  island  of  Cuba  a  prince,  having  called  his  people 
together,  showed  them  a  cask  full  of  gold  and  jewels, 
and  told  them  it  was  the  Spanish  God.  After  they 
had  danced  around  it  he  threw  it  into  the  river,  be 
cause,  said  he,  if  the  Spaniards  know  we  have  it,  they 
will  kill  us  to  get  it.  This  prince  was  afterward  taken 
by  them  and  "burned.  At  the  stake  a  friar  told  him 
about  Christ  and  the  matters  of  our  faith,  which,  if 
he  would  believe,  he  might  go  to  heaven;  if  not,  he 
must  needs  go  to  hell.  The  prince,  after  a  pause, 
asked  the  friar  if  the  Spaniards  went  to  heaven.  The 
friar  said  they  did.  The  prince  then,  without  any 
pause,  replied  that  he  would  not  go  to  heaven,  but  to 
hell,  that  he  might  be  free  from  such  a  cruel  people. 

"Thus  more  than  ten  realms  greater  than 
Spain  are  turned  into  a  wilderness.  Twenty-seven 
millions  of  souls  perished  within  the  space  of  forty 


African  Slavery  in  America.  145 

years.  In  Hispaniola,  also  three  millions.  In  five 
small  islands  near  it  half  a  million.  In  another  dis 
trict,  fully  five  millions.  In  Peru,  above  four 
millions." 

Macaulay  says:  "In  Britain  the  conquered  race 
became  as  barbarous  as  the  conquerors."  It  was  even 
so  in  America.  During  the  height  of  the  African 
slave-trade  across  the  Atlantic,  the  lights  of  morality 
burned  low  and  the  fires  were  quenched  upon  the  altars 
of  justice.  Savage  and  heathen  red  men,  savage  and 
heathen  black  men,  savage  and  Christian  white  men 
united  in  a  carnival  of  injustice  and  barbarities  with 
out  a  parallel  in  history.  If  the  heathen  were  des 
perately  resisting,  the  Christians  were  unrelentingly 
cruel.  If  the  heathen  savages  were  cunning,  the 
Christian  savages  were  powerful.  The  result  was 
what  might  have  been  expected — the  invading  savages 
from  Europe  and  Africa  triumphed  and  the  native 
heathen  were  vanquished.  No  wonder  that  the  first 
European  nation  (French)  to  raise  its  voice  against 
the  African  slave-trade  spoke  against  the  Christian 
religion  also. 

So  closely  were  the  Church  and  slavery  united  that 
opposition  to  slavery  and  free-thought  became  synony 
mous.  The  rising  tide  of  freedom  and  democracy 
flowed  away  from  the  Church.  The  Declaration  of 
Independence  was  the  work  of  Thomas  Paine,  Benja 
min  Franklin,  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  all  of  whom 
were  profoundly  religious  but  as  anti-church  as  they 
were  anti-slavery.  Washington  signed  a  treaty  with 
the  Barbary  States  stipulating  that  the  United  States 
of  America  was  not  a  Christian  nation,  and  Abraham 
Lincoln's  name  is  not  on  the  roll  of  any  church.  The 
advance  guard  of  modern  thought,  both  within  and 
without  the  Church,  is  still  very  indifferently  orthodox. 

This  does  not  mean  the  death  of  faith,  but  that 

10 


146  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

faith  in  man  is  as  important  as  faith  in  God.  In  fact, 
faith  in  God  unaccompanied  by  faith  in  man  is  an 
injury,  not  a  benefit,  to  human  society. 


II. — THE  WHITE  MAN  DEGRADED  AFRICA 
AND  THE  AFRICAN. 

"Commodore  Owen,  who  was  employed  in  the  sur 
vey  of  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa  in  the  years  1823 
and  1824,  gives  an  insight  into  how  the  peaceful  in 
dustries  were  fostered  and  encouraged.  'The  riches 
of  the  Zulimaine/  he  writes,  'consisted  in  a  trifling 
degree  of  gold  and  silver,  but  principally  in  grain, 
which  was  produced  in  such  quantities  as  to  supply 
Mozambique.  But  the  introduction  of  the  slave-trade 
stopped  the  pursuits  of  industry,  and  changed  these 
places  where  peace  and  agriculture  had  formerly 
reigned  into  the  seat  of  war  and  bloodshed.  Con 
tending  tribes1  are  now  constantly  striving  to  obtain 
by  mutual  conflict,  prisoners  as  slaves  for  sale  to  the 
Portuguese,  who  excite  these  wars  and  fatten  on  the 
blood  and  wretchedness  they  produce." 

Slavery  has  "produced  the  most  baneful  effects, 
causing  anarchy,  injustice,  and  oppression  to  reign 
in  Africa,  and  exciting  nations  to  rise  up  against 
nations,  and  man  against  man;  it  has  covered  the  face 
of  the  country  with  desolation.  All  these  evils,  and 
many  others,  has  slavery  accomplished;  in  return  for 
which  the  Europeans,  for  whose  benefit  and  by  whose 
connivance  and  encouragement  it  has  flourished  so 
extensively,  have  given  to  the  artless  natives  ardent 
spirits,  tawdry  silk  dresses,  and  paltry  necklaces  of 
beads." 


1  This  implies  what  all  investigators  know,  that  the  slaves  brought 
to  this  country  were  of  different  tribes  and  nations  of  Africa ;  and 
not  all  of  one  tribe,  as  is  so  frequently  asserted  by  anti-Negro  writers. 


African  Slavery  in  America.  147 

Against  the  charge  of  innate  debasement  of  the 
African  character  I  quote  one  of  the  brainiest  and 
most  learned  men  of  the  nineteenth  century,  William 
Stewart  Ross,  of  London,  than  whom  no  more  ardent 
devotee  of  the  truth  ever  lived : — 

"I  have  contended  that  the  fire  of  the  domestic  and 
social  affections  is  more  intense  in  savage  and  un 
tutored  than  in  civilized  and  educated  man.  The 
attachment  of  the  Negroes  to  their  homes  and  families 
was  proverbial.  In  defence  of  their  hearths  and  their 
dear  ones  they  fought  with  the  most  desperate  of 
courage.  The  turtledove  of  the  idyl  pines  away  and 
dies  when  her  mate  is  no  more ;  but  the  Negro  woman 
of  authenticated  fact  cared  nothing  as  to  what  became 
of  herself  when  her  husband  was  slain.  The  family 
instinct  was  intense  and  the  very  children  felt  that  all 
that  was  worth  living  for  was  gone  when  their  f ather's 
blood  was  poured  out  under  the  steel  or  the  bullet  pur 
chased  by  Christian  gold.  When  attacked  they  were 
no  cravens.  A  year  of  slavery  would  degrade  a  demi 
god,  and  the  enslaved  Negro,  under  the  lash  and  the 
gospel,  was  as  spiritless  and  disgusting  a  specimen  of 
humanity  as  the  most  morbid  imagination  could  pic 
ture;  but  the  Negro,  unenslaved  and  unchristianized, 
was  simple,  artless,  manly  and  brave,  and  attached  to 
his  straw  hut  and  his  children  and  their  dusky  mother 
with  a  heroic  passion  to  which  the  phlegmatic  blood 
of  civilization  is  a  stranger.  Against  their  enemies 
'they  throw/  writes  T.  Fowell  Buxton,  'their  long, 
poisoned  javelins,  covering  themselves  with  their 
shields ;  while  their  wives  and  children  stand  by  them 
and  encourage  them  with  their  voices.  But,  when  the 
head  of  the  family  is  killed,  they  surrender  without  a 
murmur/  .  .  .  'When  the  Negroes  are  taken 
their  strong  attachment  to  their  families  and  lands  is 
apparent.  They  refuse  to  stir,  some  clinging  to  the 


148  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

trees  with  all  their  strength;  while  others  embrace 
their  wives  and  children  so  closely  that  it  is  necessary 
to  separate  them  with  the  sword ;  or  they  are  bound  to 
a  horse,  and  are  dragged  over  brambles  and  rocks 
until  they  reach  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  bruised, 
bloody,  and  disfigured.  If  they  still  continue  obstinate 
(not  to  leave  their  homes)  they  are  put  to  death/2 
It  was  notorious  that,  even  after  they  had  been  put 
aboard  ship,  many  of  the  exiles  died  of  nostalgia, 
or  home-sickness, — a  malady  which  has  hardly  ever 
been  known  to  carry  off  a  civilized  man  or  woman 
with  his  or  her  wider,  consequently  less  intensified, 
loves  and  sympathies.  It  is  further  notorious  that, 
when  the  slaves,  during  their  voyage  across  the  Atlan 
tic,  were  allowed  to  go  upon  deck,  high  and  strong 
nets  were  placed  along  the  bulwarks  to  prevent  their 
leaping  overboard,  and  that  these  nets,  supplemented 
by  loaded  muskets  and  drawn  swords,  were  not  suffi 
cient  to  prevent  great  numbers  from  finding  death  by 
leaping  into  the  roaring  ocean  rather  than  meet  the  en 
durance  of  life,  torn  away  from  their  native  land  and 
those  who  were  the  objects  of  their  simple  and  vehem 
ent  love." 

Pride  of  race  and  love  of  native  land  are  not  con 
fined  to  "civilization's"  simpering  products  in  silk  hats, 
kid  gloves,  and  patent-leather  boots. 

"We  can  sympathize  with  our  own  Caractacus, 
torn  away  from  his  home  in  Britain  to  grace  a  Roman 
triumph,  for  he  was  one  of  our  own  kith  and  kin,  and 
those  who  vanquished  and  exiled  him  were  not  Chris 
tians,  and  the  event  reaches  way  back  into  ancient 
history.  But  we  have  no  sympathy  with  many  a 
nameless  brave  as  patriotic  as  Caractacus,  who  was 
vanquished  and  exiled  by  Christians,  and  that  not  in 
the  far-off  epochs  of  the  ancient  world.  Abyssinia  had 


2  "The  Slave  Trade." 


African  Slavery  in  America.  149 

her  warriors,  Soudan  had  her  heroes,  no  whit  less 
noble,  no  whit  more  savage,  than  Caractacus.  It  ill- 
becomes  a  Christian  poet  to  sing  of  their  misfortunes 
and  their  valor;  only  one  poet,  as  far  as  I  am  aware, 
has  ventured  so  to  sing.  When  a  boy  I  was  wont  to 
recite  the  following  lines  by  William  Cullen  Bryant, 
which  I  now  inscribe  from  memory" : — 

"Chained  in  the  market-place  he  stood, 

A  man  of  giant  frame, 
Amid  the  gathering  multitude 

That  shrunk  to  hear  his  name — 
All  stern  of  look  and  strong  of  limb, 

His  dark  eye  on  the  ground ; 
And  silently  they  gazed  on,  him, 

As  on  a  lion  bound. 

"Vainly  but  well  that  chief  had  fought— 

He  was  a  captive  now; 
Yet  pride,  that  fortune  humbles  not, 

Was  written  on  his  brow. 
The  scars  his  dark-brown  bosom  wore 

Showed  warrior  true  and  brave; 
A  prince  among  his  tribe  before, 

He  could  not  be  a  slave. 

"Then  to  the  conqueror  he  spake, 

'My  brother  is  a  king; 
Undo  this  necklace  from  my  neck, 

And  take  this  bracelet  ring, 
And  send  me  where  my  brother  reigns, 

And  I  will  fill  thy  hands 
With  store  of  ivory  from  the  plains 

And  gold-dust  from  the  sands.' 


150  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

"  'Not  for  thy  ivory  nor  thy  gold 

Will  I  unbind  thy  chain; 
That  bloody  hand  shall  never  hold 

The  battle  spear  again. 
A  price  thy  nation  never  gave 

Shall  yet  be  paid  for  thee; 
For  thou  shalt  be  the  Christian's  slave, 
In  lands  beyond  the  sea/ 

"Then  wept  the  warrior  chief,  and  bade 

To  shred  his  locks  away; 
And,  one  by  one,  each  heavy  braid 

Before  the  victor  lay. 
Thick  were  the  platted  locks  and  long, 

And  closely  hidden  there 
Shone  many,  a  wedge  of  gold  among 

The  dark  and  crisped  hair. 

"  'Look,  feast  thy  greedy  eye  with  gold 

Long  kept  for  sorest  need; 
Take  it,  thou  askest  sums  untold, 

And  say  that  I  am  freed. 
Take  it — my  wife,  the  long,  long  day, 

Weeps  by  the  cocoa-tree, 
And  my  young  children  leave  their  play 

And  ask  in  vain  for  me.' 

"  'I  take  thy  gold ;  but  I  have  made 

Thy  fetters  fast  and  strong, 
And  ween  that  by  the  cocoa-shade 

Thy  wife  will  wait  thee  long.' 
Strong  was  the  agony  that  shook 

The  captive's  frame  to  hear, 
And  the  proud  meaning  of  his  look 

Was  changed  to  mortal  fear. 


African  Slavery  in  America.  151 

"His  heart  was  broken — crazed  his  brain; 

At  once  his  eye  grew  wild; 
He  struggled  fiercely  with  his  chain, 

Whispered  and  wept  and  smiled ; 
Yet  wore  not  long  those  fatal}  bands, 

And  once,  at  close  of  day, 
They  drew  him  forth  upon  the  sands, 

The  foul  hyena's  prey." 


So  much  for  the  typical  Caractacus  of  the  Negro  race. 
"A  survey  of  African  tribes  exhibits  to  our  view 
cultural  achievements  of  no  mean  order.  To  those 
unfamiliar  with  the  products  of  Native  African  art 
and  industry,  a  walk  through  one  of  the  large 
museums  of  Europe  would  be  a  revelation.  None  of 
our  American  museums  has  made  collections  that  ex 
hibit  this  subject  in  anyway  worthily.  The  black 
smith,  the  woodcarver,  the  weaver,  the  potter, — these 
all  produce  ware  original  in  form,  executed  with  great 
care,  and  exhibiting  that  love  of  labor,  and  interest  in 
the  results  of  work,  which  are  apparently  so  often 
lacking  among  the  Negroes  in  our  American  sur 
roundings.  No  less  instructive  are  the  records  of 
travellers,  reporting  the  thrift  of  the  native  villages, 
of  the  extended  trade  of  the  country,  and  of  its  mar 
kets.  The  power  of  organization  as  illustrated  in  the 
governments  of  native  states  is  of  no  mean  order,  and 
when  wielded  by  men  of  great  personality  has  led  to 
the  foundation  of  extended  empires.  All  the  different 
kinds  of  activities  that  we  consider  valuable  in  the 
citizens  of  our  country  may  be  found  in  aboriginal 
Africa.  Neither  is  the  wisdom  of  the  philosopher 
absent.  A  perusal  of  any  of  the  collections  of  African 
proverbs  that  have  been  published  will  demonstrate 
the  homely,  practical  philosophy  of  the  Negro,  which 


152  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

is   often    proof   of    sound    feeling    and    judgment." 
(Boas.) 

Ill— THE  SLAVE  TRADE. 

In  spite  of  the  buccaneering  spirit  of  iconoclasm 
and  expansion  that  characterized  the  Middle  Ages, 
slavery  in  the  United  States  began  as  a  patriarchal 
serfdom  including  all  the  races,  Negroes,  Indians,  and 
Caucasians.  It  became  an  industrial  system  for 
monetary  and  not  for  ethical  nor  ethnical  reasons. 

"Here  it  was  that  the  fatal  mistake  of  compromis 
ing  with  slavery  in  the  beginning,  and  of  the  policy  of 
laissez  faire  pursued  thereafter,  became  painfully 
manifest;  for,  instead  of  a  healthy,  normal,  economic 
development  along  proper  lines,  we  have  the  abnormal 
and  fatal  rise  of  slave-labor  large-farming  system, 
which,  before  it  was  realized,  had  so  intertwined  itself 
with  and  braced  itself  upon  the  economic  forces  of  an 
industrial  age,  that  a  vast  and  terrible  civil  war3  was 
necessary  to  displace  it.  The  tendencies  to  a  patri 
archal  serfdom,  recognizable  in  the  age  of  Washing 
ton  and  Jefferson,  began  slowly  but  surely  to  dis 
appear;  and  in  the  second  quarter  of  the  century 
Southern  slavery  was  irresistibly  changing  from  a 
family  institution  to  an  industrial  system. 

"The  development  of  Southern  slavery  has  there 
fore  been  viewed  so  exclusively  from  the  ethical  and 
social  standpoint  that  we  are  apt  to  forget  its  close  and 
indissoluble  connection  with  the  world's  cotton  mar 
ket.  Beginning  with  1820,  a  little  after  the  close  of 
the  Napoleonic  wars,  when  the  industry  of  the  cotton 
manufacture  had  begun  its  modern  development  and 


3  It  is  often  asserted  that  the  war  was  not  caused  by  slavery ;  yet 
if  any  man  that  ever  lived  in  this  country  ought  to  know  the  cause  of 
the  war,  that  man  was  Abraham  Lincoln.  (See  quotation  at  front  of 
this  chapter.) 


African  Slavery  in  America.  153 

the  South  had  definitely  assumed  her  position  as  chief 
producer  of  raw  cotton,  we  find  the  average  price  of 
cotton  per  pound,  8^>d. 

"From  this  time  to  1845  tne  price  steadily  fell, 
until  in  the  latter  year  it  reached  4d;  the  only  excep 
tion  to  this  fall  was  in  the  years  1832-1839,  when, 
among  other  things,  a  strong  increase  in  the  English 
demand,  together  with  an  attempt  of  the  young  slave 
power  to  'corner'  the  market,  sent  the  price  as  high  as 
i  id.  The  demand  for  cotton  goods  soon  outran  a  crop 
which  McCollough  had  pronounced  'prodigious/  and 
after  1845  the  price  started  on  a  steady  rise,  which, 
for  the  checks  suffered  during  the  continental  revolu 
tions  and  the  Crimean  War,  continued  until  1869. 
The  steady  increase  in  the  production  of  cotton  ex 
plains  the  fall  in  price  down  to  1845.  I*1  l&22  tne  cr°P 
was  a  half-million  bales;  in  1831,  a  million;  in  1838,  a 
million  and  a  half;  in  1840-1843,  two  million.  By  this 
time  the  world  consumption  of  cotton  goods  began  to 
increase  so  rapidly  that,  in  spite  of  the  increase  in 
Southern  crops,  the  price  kept  rising.  Three  million 
bales  were  gathered  in  1852,  three  and  a  half  million 
in  1856,  and  the  remarkable  crop  of  five  million  bales 
in  1860. 

"Here  we  have  data  to  explain  largely  the 
economic  development  of  the  South.  By  1822  the 
large-plantation  slave  system  had  gained  footing;  in 
1838-1839  it  was  able  to  show  its  power  in  the  cotton 
'corner' ;  by  the  end  of  the  next  decade  it  had  not  only 
gained  a  solid  economic  foundation,  but  it  had  built  a 
closed  oligarchy  with  political  policy.  The  changes  in 
price  during  the  next  few  years  drove  out  of  competi 
tion  many  survivors  of  the  small-farming  free-labor 
system,  and  put  the  slave  regime  in  position  to  dictate 
the  policy  of  the  nation.  The  zenith  of  the  system  and 
the  first  inevitable  signs  of  decay  came  in  the  years 


154  American  Civilization  and  I  he  Negro. 

1859-1860,  when  the  rising  price  of  cotton  threw  the 
whole  economic  energy  of  the  South  into  its  culti 
vation,  leading  to  a  terrible  consumption  of  soil  and 
slaves,  to  a  great  increase  in  the  size  of  plantations, 
and  to  increasing  power  and  effrontery  on  the  part  of 
the  slave  barons.  Finally,  when  a  rising  moral  cru 
sade  conjoined  with  threatened  economic  disaster,  the 
oligarchy,  encouraged  by  the  state  of  the  cotton  mar 
ket,  risked  all  on  a  political  coup  d'etat,  which  failed  in 
the  war  of  1861-1865. 

"The  attitude  of  the  South  toward  the  slave-trade 
changed  with  this  development  of  the  cotton  trade. 
From  1808  to  1820  the  South  half  wished  to  get  rid  of 
a  troublesome  and  abnormal  institution,  and  yet  saw 
no  way  to  do  so.  The  fear  of  insurrection4  and  the 
further  spread  of  the  disagreeable  system  led  her  to 
consent  to  the  partial  prohibition  of  the  trade  by 
severe  national  enactments.  Nevertheless,  she  had  in 
the  matter  no  settled  policy;  she  refused  to  support 
vigorously  the  execution  of  the  laws  she  had  helped  to 
make,  and  at  the  same  time  she  acknowledged  the 
theoretical  necessity  of  these  laws.  After  1820,  how 
ever,  there  came  a  gradual  change.  The  South  found 
herself  supplied  with  a  body  of  slave  laborers  whose 


4  Nat  Turner's  rebellion  in  Virginia  and  the  efforts  of  the  slaves 
for  freedom  in  South  Carolina  show  the  growing  restlessness  of  the 
slaves  and  the  increasing  barbarity  of  the  masters  that  characterized 
this  period. 

"The  loss  of  South  Carolina  was  occasioned  by  a  terrible  civil  ex 
citement  in  1822,  which  was  produced  by  the  discovery  of  a  contem 
plated  insurrection  on  the  part  of  certain  slaves  for  the  overthrow  of 
slavery  in  that  State.  The  ringleaders,  six  in  number,  were  arrested, 
tried  and  convicted,  and  hung  on  a  single  gallows  at  a  single  blow. 
Chief  of  these  were  Denmark  Vesey  and  Gullak  Jack.  Subsequently 
twenty-two  of  the  conspirators  were  convicted  of  the  same  offense, 
to-wit:  a  combination  to  overthrow  the  most  villainous  system  of  op 
pression  beneath  the  sun.  They,  too,  were  hung  on  the  same  gallows, 
and  at  the  same  moment.  They  had  not  shed  a  drop  of  their  so-called 
masters'  blood,  nor  had  they  taken  up  arms  or  committed  one  act  of 
violence;  but  they  had  conspired  against  the  infernal  system,  and  that 
was  a  crime  in  itself  sufficiently  heinous  to  be  punished  with  death." — 
Payne,  "History  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church,"  page  45. 


African  Slavery  in  America.  155 

number  had  been  augmented  by  large  illicit  importa 
tions,  with  an  abundance  of  rich  land,  and  with  all 
other  natural  facilities  for  raising  a  crop  which  was 
in  large  demand  and  peculiarly  adapted  to  slave  labor. 
The  increasing  crop  caused  a  new  demand  for  slaves, 
and  an  interstate  slave-traffic  arose  between  the  Bor 
der  and  Gulf  States,  \vhich  turned  the  former  into 
slave-breeding  districts,5  and  bound  them  to  the  slave 
States  by  ties  of  strong  economic  interest. 

"As  the  cotton  crop  continued  to  increase,  this 
source  of  supply  became  inadequate,  especially  as  the 
theory  of  land  and  slave  consumption  broke  down 
former  ethical  and  prudential  bonds.  It  was,  for 
example,  found  cheaper  to  work  a  slave  to  death  in  a 
few  years,  and  buy  a  new  one,  than  to  care  for  him  in 
sickness  and  old  age ;  so,  too,  it  was  easier  to  despoil 


5  In  1843  the  famous  Irish  advocate  and  emancipator,  Daniel 
O'Connell,  nearing  the  limit  of  his  long  and  useful  life,  made  an  appeal 
to  his  countrymen  in  America,  from  which  I  extract  the  following 
eloquent  words :  "You  say  the  Negroes  are  naturally  an  inferior  race. 
That  is  a  totally  gratuitous  assertion  on  your  part.  In  America  you 
can  have  no  opportunity  of  seeing  the  Negro  educated.  On  the  con 
trary,  in  most  of  your  States  it  is  a  crime — sacred  Heaven ! — a  crime 
to  educate  even  a  free  Negro !  How,  then,  can  you  judge  of  the  Negro 
race,  when  you  see  them  despised  and  condemned  by  educated  classes — 
reviled  and  looked  down  upon  as  inferior?  The  Negro  race  has  natur 
ally  some  of  the  finest  qualities.  They  are  naturally  gentle,  generous, 
humane,  and  very  grateful  for  kindness.  They  are  brave  and  as  fear 
less  as  any  other  of  the  race  of  human  beings 

"We  ask  you  to  exert  yourselves  in  every  possible  way  to  put  an 
end  to  the  internal  slave  trade  of  the  States.  The  breeding  of  slaves 
for  sale  is  probably  the  most  immoral  and  debasing  practice  ever  known 
in  the  world.  It  is  a  crime  of  the  most  heinous  kind,  and  if  there  were 
no  other  crime  committed  by  the  Americans,  this  alone  would  place  the 
advocates,  supporters,  and  practisers  of  American  slavery  in  the 
lowest  grade  of  criminals 

"Irishmen !  sons  of  Irishmen !  descendants  of  the  kind  of  heart  and 
affectionate  disposition,  think,  oh !  think  only  with  pity  and  compassion 
on  your  colored  fellow-creatures  in  America.  Offer  them  the  hand  of 
kindly  help.  Soothe  their  sorrows.  Scathe  their  oppressors.  Join 
with  your  countrymen  at  home  in  one  cry  of  horror  against  the 
oppressor;  in  one  cry  of  sympathy  with  the  enslaved  and  oppressed, 

'  'Till  prone  in  the  dust  slavery  shall  be  hurl'd, 
Its  name  and  nature  blotted  from  the  world.' 

"Irishmen,  I  call  upon  you  to  join  in  crushing  slavery,  and  in  giving 
liberty  to  every  man  and  every  caste,  creed,  or  color." 


156  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

rich,  new  land  in  a  few  years  of  intensive  culture,  and 
move  on  to  the  Southwest,  than  to  fertilize  and  con 
serve  the  soil.  Consequently,  there  early  came  a  de 
mand  for  slaves  and  land  greater  than  the  country 
could  supply.  The  demand  for  land  showed  itself  in 
the  annexation  of  Texas,  the  conquest  of  Mexico,  and 
the  movement  toward  the  acquisition  of  Cuba.  The 
demand  for  slaves  was  shown  in  the  illicit  traffic  that 
noticeably  increased  about  1835,  and  reached  large 
proportions  by  1860.  It  was  also  seen  in  a  disposition 
to  attack  the  government  for  stigmatizing  the  trade  as 
criminal,  then  in  a  disinclination  to  take  any  measures 
which  would  render  our  repressive  laws  effective ;  and 
finally  in  such  articulate  declarations  by  prominent 
men  as  this :  'Experience  having  settled  the  point,  that 
this  trade  cannot  be  abolished  by  the  use  of  force,  and 
that  blockading  squadrons  serve  only  to  make  it  more 
profitable,  and  more  cruel,  I  am  surprised  that  the 
attempt  is  persisted  in,  unless  it  serves  as  a  cloak  to 
some  other  purposes.  It  would  be  far  better  than  it 
now  is,  for  the  African,  if  the  trade  were  free  from  all 
restrictions,  and  left  to  the  mitigation  and  decay  which 
time  and  competition  would  surely  bring  about/  "6 

The  efforts  today  to  evade  and  repeal  the  Thir 
teenth,  Fourteenth,  and  Fifteenth  Amendments  to  the 
Federal  Constitution  are  similar  in  method  and  spirit 
to  the  efforts  to  revive  or  re-establish  slave-trade ;  as 
the  pro-slavery  cruelty  of  1835  which  made  it  a  crime 
for  a  colored  man  to  educate  his  own  children  finds 
its  rebirth  in  the  segregation  laws  which  forbid  white 
people  to  teach  colored  people.7 


6  DuBois,  "Suppression  of  Slavery." 

7  In  the  beginning  the  Negro  slaves  were  taught  to  read  and  write 
as  freely  as  they  were  taught  Christianity.    That  epoch  continued  until 
about  1835,  and  it  produced  some  brainy  persons  of  color,  such  as 
Phyllis  Wheatley,  the  poet,  and  Benjamin  Banneker,  who,  in  1770,  made 
the  first  clock  manufactured  in  the  United  States.     Another  instance 


African  Slavery  in  America.  157 

"No  man  who  is  correctly  informed  as  to  the  past 
will  be  disposed  to  take  a  morose  or  desponding  view 
of  the  present/'8 

IV. — THE  MOVEMENT  AGAINST  THE  SLAVE- 
TRADE  LAWS. 

It  was  not  altogether  a  mistaken  judgment  that 
led  the  constitutional  fathers  to  consider  the  slave- 
trade  as  the  backbone  of  slavery.  An  economic  sys 
tem  based  on  slave  labor  will  find,  sooner  or  later, 
that  the  demand  for  the  cheapest  slave  labor  cannot 
long  be  withstood.  Once  degrade  the  laborer  so  that 
he  cannot  assert  his  own  rights,  and  there  is  but  one 
limit  below  which  his  price  cannot  be  reduced.  That 
limit  is  not  his  personal  well-being,  for  it  may  be,  and 
in  the  Gulf  States  it  was,  cheaper  to  work  him  rapidly 
to  death.9  The  limit  is  simply  the  cost  of  producing 
him  and  keeping  him  alive  a  profitable  length  of  time. 
Only  the  moral  sense  of  a  community  can  keep  help 
less  labor  from  sinking  to  this  level ;  and  when  a  com 
munity  has  been  debauched  by  slavery,  its  moral  sense 
offers  little  resistance  to  economic  demand.  This  was 
the  case  in  the  West  Indies  and  Brazil ;  and  although 
better  moral  stamina  held  the  crisis  back  longer  in  the 
United  States,  yet  even  here  the  ethical  standard  of 
the  South  was  not  able  to  maintain  itself  against  the 


is  that  of  James  Durham,  who  spoke  French  and  Spanish  fluently,  as 
well  as  English,  and  was  a  distinguished  physician  of  New  Orleans. 
The  noted  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  of  Philadelphia,  once  deigned  to  con 
verse  with  him  professionally  and  afterward  confessed:  "I  learned 
more  from  him  than  he  could  expect  from  me."  About  1835,  however, 
the  dark  age  set  in,  when  it  became  a  crime  even  for  a  Negro  to  teach 
his  own  children  to  read  and  write. — The  New  York  Times,  July  18, 
1915. 

8  Macaulay's  History  of  England. 

9  Sir  Harry  Johnston  says  the  slaves  were  not  only  poorly  fed  and 
driven  under  the  lash  to  the  limit,  but  on  the  plantations,  and  even  by 
public  roads,  men,  women,  and  children  were  worked  absolutely  naked. 


158  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

demands  of  the  cotton  industry.  When,  after  1850, 
the  price  of  slaves  had  risen  to  monopoly  heights,  the 
leaders  of  the  plantation  system,  brought  to  the  edge 
of  bankruptcy  by  the  crude  and  reckless  farming 
necessary  under  a  slave  regime,  and  baffled,  at  least 
temporarily,  in  their  quest  of  new  land  to  exploit, 
began  instinctively  to  feel  that  the  only  salvation  of 
American  slavery  lay  in  the  reopening  of  the  African 
slave-trade. 

"It  took  but  a  spark  to  put  this  instinctive  feeling 
into  words,  and  words  led  to  deeds.  The  movement 
first  took  form  in  the  ever-radical  State  of  South 
Carolina.  In  1854  a  grand  jury  in  the  Williamsburg 
district  declared,  'as  our  unanimous  opinion,  that  the 
Federal  law  abolishing  the  African  slave-trade  is  a 
public  grievance.  We  hold  it  has  been  and  would  be, 
if  re-established,  a  blessing  to  the  American  people, 
and  a  benefit  to  the  African  himself.'  This  attracted 
only  local  attention;  but  when  in  1856  the  governor 
of  the  State,  in  his  annual  message,  calmly  argued  at 
length  for  a  reopening  of  the  trade,  and  boldly  de 
clared  that  'if  we  cannot  supply  the  demand  for  slave 
labor,  then  we  must  expect  to  be  supplied  with  a 
species  of  labor  that  we  do  not  want/  such  words 
struck  even  Southern  ears  like  'a  thunder-clap  on  a 
calm  day/  And  yet  it  needed  but  a  few  years  to  show 
that  South  Carolina  had  merely  been  the  first  to  put 
into  words  the  inarticulate  thought  of  a  large  minority, 
if  not  a  majority,  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Gulf 
States." 

"The  first  piece  of  regular  business  that  came  be 
fore  the  Commercial  Convention  at  Knoxville,  Tennes 
see,  August  10,  1857,  was  a  proposal  to  recommend 
the  abrogation  of  the  eighth  article  of  the  Treaty  of 
Washington,  on  the  slave-trade.  An  amendment 
offered  by  Sneed,  of  Tennessee,  declaring  it  inexpedi- 


African  Slavery  in  America.  159 

ent  and  against  settled  policy  to  reopen  the  trade,  was 
voted  down,  Alabama,  Arkansas,  Florida,  Louisana, 
Mississippi,  South  Carolina,  and  Virginia  refusing  to 
agree  to  it.  The  original  motion  then  passed;  and 
the  radicals,  satisfied  with  their  success  in  the  first 
skirmish,  again  secured  the  appointment  of  a  com 
mittee  to  report  at  the  next  meeting  on  the  subject  of 
reopening  the  slave-trade.  This  next  meeting  as 
sembled  May  10,  1858,  in  a  Gulf  State,  Alabama,  in 
the  city  of  Montgomery.  Spratt,  of  South  Carolina, 
the  slave  champion,  presented  an  elaborate  majority 
report  from  the  committee  and  recommended  the  fol 
lowing  resolutions : — 

"i.  Resolved,  That  slavery  is  right,  and  that,  be 
ing  right,  there  can  be  no  wrong  in  the  natural  means 
of  its  formation.10 

"2.  Resolved,  That  it  is  expedient  and  proper  that 
the  foreign  slave-trade  should  be  reopened,  and  that 
this  Convention  will  lend  its  influence  to  any  legitimate 
measure  to  that  end. 

"3.  Resolved,  That  a  committee  consisting  of  one 
from  each  slave  State,  be  appointed  to  consider  the 
means,  consistent  with  the  duty  and  obligations  of 
these  States,  for  reopening  the  foreign  slave-trade, 


10  There  was  no  hesitancy  in  arguing  both  the  necessity  and  justice 
of  slavery.  James  Henry  Hammond,  of  South  Carolina,  said  in  the 
United  States  Senate,  March,  1858:  "In  all  social  systems  there  must 
be  a  class  to  do  the  mean  duties,  to  perform  the  drudgery  of  life;  that 
is,  a  class  requiring  but  a  low  order  of  intellect  and  but  little  skill.  Its 
requisites  are  vigor,  docility,  fidelity.  Such  a  class  you  must  have  or 
you  would  not  have  that  other  class  which  leads  progress,  refinement, 
and  civilization.  It  constitutes  the  very  mudsills  of  society  and  of 
political  government;  and  you  might  as  well  attempt  to  build  a  house 
in  the  air  as  to  build  either  the  one  or  the  other  except  on  the  mudsills. 
Fortunately  for  the  South,  she  found  a  race  adapted  to  that  purpose 
to  her  hand — a  race  inferior  to  herself,  but  eminently  qualified  in 
temper,  in  docility,  in  vigor,  in  capacity  to  stand  the  climate,  to  answer 
all  her  purposes.  We  use  them  for  the  purpose  and  call  them  slaves. 
We  are  old-fashioned  at  the  South  yet;  it  is  a  word  discarded  now 
by  polite  ears;  but  I  will  not  characterize  that  class  at  the  North  with 
that  term ;  but  you  have  it ;  it  is  there ;  it  is  everywhere ;  it  is  eternal." 


160  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

and  that  they  report  their  plan  to  the  meeting  of  this 
Convention. 

"Yancey,  from  the  same  committee,  presented  a 
minority  report,  which,  though  it  demanded  the  re 
peal  of  the  national  prohibitory  laws,  did  not  advocate 
the  reopening  of  the  trade  by  the  States. 

"Much  debate  ensued.  Pryor,  of  Virginia,  de 
clared  the  majority  report  'a  proposition  to  dissolve 
the  Union/  Yancey  declared  that  he  was  'for  dis 
union  now/  (Applause.)  He  defended  the  principle 
of  the  slave-trade,  and  said :  'If  it  is  right  to  buy  slaves 
in  Virginia  and  carry  them  to  New  Orleans,  why  is 
it  not  right  to  buy  them  in  Cuba,  Brazil,  or  Africa, 
and  carry  them  there?'  The  opposing  speeches  made 
little  attempt  to  meet  this  uncomfortable  logic;  but, 
nevertheless,  opposition  enough  was  developed  to  lay 
the  report  on  the  table  until  the  next  convention,  with 
orders  that  it  be  printed,  in  the  meantime,  as  a  radical 
campaign  document.  Finally  the  convention  passed  a 
resolution : — 

"  'That  it  is  inexpedient  for  any  State,  or  its 
citizens,  to  attempt  to  reopen  the  African  slave-trade 
while  that  State  is  one  of  the  United  States  of 
America.' 

"The  Convention  of  1859  met  at  Vicksburg, 
Mississippi,  May  9-19,  and  the  slave-trade  party  came 
ready  for  the  fray.  On  the  second  day  Spratt  called 
up  his  resolutions,  and  the  next  day  the  Committee 
on  Resolutions  recommended  that,  'in  the  opinion  of 
this  Convention,  all  laws,  Federal  or  State,  prohibit 
ing  the  African  slave-trade,  ought  to  be  repealed/  ' 

V. — PUBLIC  OPINION  IN  THE  SOUTH. 

"This  record  of  the  Commercial  Conventions  prob 
ably  gives  a  true  reflection  of  the  development  of  ex- 


African  Slavery  in  America.  161 

treme  opinion  on  the  question  of  reopening  the  slave- 
trade.  First,  it  is  noticeable  that  on  this  point  there 
was  a  distinct  divergence  of  opinion  and  interest  be 
tween  the  Gulf  and  Border  States,  and  it  was  this 
more  than  any  moral  repugnance  that  checked  the 
radicals.  The  whole  movement  represented  the 
economic  revolt  of  the  slave-consuming  cotton  belt 
against  their  base  of  labor  supply.  This  revolt  was 
only  prevented  from  gaining  its  ultimate  end  by  the 
fact  that  the  Gulf  States  could  not  get  on  without  the 
active  political  co-operation  of  the  Border  States. 

"Congressmen  and  other  prominent  men  hastened 
with  the  rising  tide.  Dowdell,  of  Alabama,  declared 
the  repressive  act  'highly  offensive7;  J.  B.  Clay,  of 
Kentucky,  was  'opposed  to  all  these  laws' ;  Seward,  of 
Georgia,  declared  them  'wrong,  and  a  violation  of  the 
Constitution';  Barksdale,  of  Mississippi,  agreed  with 
this  sentiment;  Crawford,  of  Georgia,  threatened  a 
reopening  of  the  trade ;  Miles,  of  South  Carolina,  was 
for  'sweeping  away'  all  restrictions;  Keitt,  of  South 
Carolina,  wished  to  withdraw  the  African  squadron, 
and  to  cease  to  brand  slave-trading  as  piracy;  Brown, 
of  Mississippi,  'would  repeal  the  law  instantly' ;  Alex 
ander  Stevens,  in  his  farewell  address  to  his  con 
stituents,  said :  'Slave  States  cannot  be  made  without 
Africans.  .  .  .  My  object  is  to  bring  clearly  to 
your  mind  the  great  truth  that  without  an  increase  of 
African  slaves  from  abroad,  you  may  not  expect  or 
look  for  many  more  slave  States.'  Jefferson  Davis 
strongly  denied  'any  coincidence  of  opinion  with  those 
who  prate  of  the  inhumanity  and  sinfulness  of  the 
trade.  The  interest  of  Mississippi,'  said  he,  'not  of  the 
African,  dictates  my  conclusion'  He  opposed  the  im 
mediate  reopening  of  the  trade  in  Mississippi  for  fear 
of  a  paralyzing  influx  of  Negroes,  but  carefully  added : 
'This  conclusion  in  relation  to  Mississippi  is  based 


162  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

upon  my  view  of  her  present  condition,  not  upon  any 
general  theory.  It  is  not  supposed  to  be  applicable  to 
Texas,  to  New  Mexico,  or  to  any  future  acquisitions 
to  be  made  south  of  the  Rio  Grande;  John  Forsyth, 
who  for  seven  years  conducted  the  slave-trade  diplo 
macy  for  the  nation,  declared,  about  1860:  'But  one 
stronghold  of  its  (i.e.,  slavery's)  enemies  remained  to 
be  carried,  to  complete  its  triumph  and  assure  its 
welfare, — that  is,  the  existing  prohibition  of  the 
African  slave-trade.'  Pollard,  in  his  'Black  Dia 
monds/  urged  the  importation  of  Africans  as  labor 
ers.'  This  I  grant  you,'  he  said,  'would  be  practically 
the  reopening  of  the  African  slave-trade ;  but  . 
you  will  find  that  it  very  often  becomes  necessary  to 
evade  the  letter  of  the  law,  in  some  of  the  greatest 
measures  of  social  happiness  and  patriotism.' ' 

In  1857  the  committee  of  the  South  Carolina  Leg 
islature  to  whom  the  governor's  slave-trade  message 
was  referred  made  an  elaborate  report,  which  declared 
in  italics :  "The  South  at  large  does  need  a  reopening 
of  the  slave-trade." 

"We  have  followed  a  chapter  of  history  which  is  of 
peculiar  interest  to  the  sociologist.  Here  was  a  rich, 
new  land,  the  wealth  of  which  was  to  be  had  in  return 
for  ordinary  manual  labor.  Had  the  country  been 
conceived  of  as  existing  primarily  for  the  benefit  of 
its  actual  inhabitants,  it  might  have  waited  for  natural 
increase  or  immigration  to  supply  the  needed  hands; 
but  both  Europe  and  the  earlier  colonists  themselves 
regarded  this  land  as  existing  chiefly  for  the  benefit  of 
Europe,  and  as  designed  to  be  exploited,  as  rapidly 
and  as  ruthlessly  as  possible,  of  the  boundless  wealth 
of  its  resources.  This  was  the  primary  excuse  for 
the  rise  of  the  African  slave-trade  to  America. 

"The  colonists  averred  with  perfect  truth  that 
they  did  not  commence  this  fatal  traffic,  but  that  it  was 


African  Slavery  in  America.  163 

imposed  upon  them  from  without.  Nevertheless,  all 
too  soon  did  they  lay  aside  scruples  against  it  and 
hasten  to  share  its  material  benefits.  Even  those  who 
braved  the  rough  Atlantic  for  the  highest  moral 
motives  fell  early  victims  to  the  allurements  of  this 
system. 

"For  the  solution  of  this  problem  there  were, 
roughly  speaking,  three  classes  of  efforts  made  during 
this  time, — moral,  political,  and  economic;  that  is  to 
say,  efforts  which  sought  directly  to  raise  the  moral 
standard  of  the  nation;  efforts  which  sought  to  stop 
the  trade  by  legal  enactment;  efforts  which  sought  to 
neutralize  the  economic  advantages  of  the  slave- 
trade.  . 

"An  appeal  to  moral  rectitude  was  unheard  in 
Carolina  when  rice  had  become  a  great  crop,  and  in 
Massachusetts  when  the  rum-slave-trafnc  was  paying 
a  profit  of  100  per  cent. 

"In  1774  and  1804,  the  material  advantages  of  the 
slave-trade  and  the  institution  of  slavery  was  least. 
.  A  fatal  spirit  of  temporizing,  however, 
seized  the  nation  at  these  points.  ...  It  was 
only  a  peculiar  and  fortuitous  commingling  of  moral, 
political,  and  economic  motives  that  eventually  crushed 
African  slavery  and  its  handmaid,  the  slave-trade  in 
America.  . 

"The  political  efforts  to  limit  the  slave-trade  were 
the  outcome  partly  of  moral  reprobation  of  the  trade, 
partly  of  motives  of  expediency.  .  .  .  On  the 
whole,  these  acts  were  poorly  conceived,  loosely 
drawn,  and  wretchedly  enforced. 

"Economic  measures  against  the  trade  were  those 
which  from  the  beginning  had  the  best  chance  of  suc 
cess,  but  which  were  least  tried.  They  included  tariff 
measures;  efforts  to  encourage  the  immigration  of 
free  laborers  and  the  emigration  of  the  slaves;  meas- 


164  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

ures  for  changing  the  character  of  Southern  industry ; 
and,  finally,  plans  to  restore  the  economic  balance 
which  slavery  destroyed,  by  raising  the  condition  of 
the  slave  to  that  of  complete  freedom  and  respon 
sibility. 

"The  one  great  measure  which  stopped  the  slave- 
trade  forever  was,  naturally,  the  abolition  of  slavery, 
i.e.,  the  giving  to  the  Negro  the  right  to  sell  his  labor 
at  a  price  consistent  with  his  own  welfare.  The  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  itself,  while  due  in  part  to  direct  moral 
appeal  and  political  sagacity,  was  largely  the  result 
of  the  economic  collapse  of  the  large-farming  slave 
system."11 

African  slavery  in  the  United  States  of  America 
was  born  of  cupidity  and  died  of  self-inflicted  economic 
strangulation.  With  it  justice  and  morals  had  little 
to  do;  and  ethnic  considerations  were  the  merest 
incidents. 

This  does  not  mean  a  disparagement  of  the  aboli 
tionists  nor  of  those  noble-hearted  conservatives  who 
wished  in  their  hearts  that  all  men  might  be  free,  but 
the  fact  remains  that  the  Proclamation  was  a  "war 
measure  called  forth  by  military  necessity  in  the  time 
of  actual  armed  rebellion  against  the  United  States/' 
It  is  a  question  if  the  President's  action  issuing  the 
Proclamation  met  the  approval  of  a  bare  majority  of 
those  who  favored  the  Federal  Cause  at  that  date. 
Certainly  there  was  bitter  opposition  at  the  North  as 
well  as  the  most  intense  anger  and  consternation  in 
the  South. 

Harrisburg  Union  said :  "The  proclamation  of  the 
President  is  an  outrage  upon  the  humanity  and  good 
sense  of  the  country." 

The  Richmond  Inquirer  said:  "Murder  is  a  term 
of  honor  compared  to  Lincoln's  crime." 

11  DuBois,  "Suppression  of  Slave-trade." 


African  Slavery  in  America.  165 

A  resolution  was  introduced  in  the  Confederate 
Senate  declaring  it  "a  gross  violation  of  the  usages  of 
civilized  warfare  and  declaring  it  ought  to  be  held  up 
to  the  execration  of  mankind."12 

"Neither  party  expected  for  the  War  the  magni 
tude  or  the  duration  which  it  attained.  Neither  antici 
pated  that  the  cause  of  the  conflict  might  cease  when, 
or  even  before,  the  conflict  itself  should  cease.  Each 
looked  for  an  easier  triumph  and  a  result  less  funda 
mental  and  astounding." 


12  Wilbur,  "President  Lincoln's  Attitude  Toward  Emancipation  and 
Slavery." 


"Lo,  now  thine  enemy 

Hath  surely  found  the  place  that  weakest  is 
In  those  strong  walls  that  rampart  'round  thy  life; 
Thou  ow'st  him  much,  see  thou  repair  the  breach." 

*  *  *  *  *  * 

"Have  we  not  done  the  right 
By  feeling  no  resentment  in  this  case?" 

A.  D1  WATSON,  "Love  and  the  Universe." 

"The  position  of  women  in  Central  Africa  is  quite 
enviable  compared  with  the  lives  of  drudgery  from  morning 
till  night  of  hundreds  of  thousands  in  Europe  and  America. 
They  labor  in  the  field  as  a  rule  from  choice,  not  compulsion. 
Their  influence  in  the  home  over  their  children,  and  often  over 
their  husbands  also,  is  very  great.  It  is  not  uncommon  to 
find  women  chiefs  of  tribes  and  villages,  and  the  succession 
always  runs  through  the  sister  to  the  king's  nephew  rather 
than  to  his  son.  Children  are  members  of  their  mother's 
family,  and  when  old  enough  to  shift  for  themselves  are 
handed  over  to  their  maternal  relations." — DOUGLASS  M. 
THORNTON,  "Africa  Waiting." 


(166) 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  PRESENCE  OF  THE  NEGRO  AND 
PROGRESS  IN  THE  SOUTH. 

I. 

THERE  is  a  collective  or  tribal  mind  as  truly  as 
there  is  an  individual  or  personal  mind.  This  tribal  or 
racial  mind  is  just  as  dominantly  determinative  of  the 
group  career  as  the  individual  mind  is  of  the  personal 
career.  The  same  laws  govern  both.  We  can  study 
one  from  the  other. 

Man's  sole  right  to  pre-eminence  over  his  animal 
kinsmen  is  his  intellectuality.  The  mind  makes  the 
man.  "As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he." 
Not  his  looks,  nor  his  stature,  but  his  thoughts  make 
the  man.  It  is  not  the  shape  of  his  head,  whether  it  be 
dolichocephalic1  or  brachycephalic ;  it  is  not  the 
texture  of  his  hair,  whether  it  be  ulotrichous  or  leiot- 
richous;2  it  is  not  the  facial  contour,  whether  it  be 
angular  and  sharp  and  European  or  broad  and  flat 
and  African;  it  is  not  the  color  of  the  skin,  whether 
it  have  the  achromatic  pallor  of  the  Norwegian  or  the 
midnight  hue  of  the  sun-kissed  Senegambian;  no, 
neither  facial  angles,  nor  brain-weight,  nor  set  of 
teeth,  nor  length  of  arm,  nor  arch  of  foot,3  nor  any 
other  outward  physical  characteristic  is  the  determin 
ing  factor  in  life's  complicated  equation.  As  a  man 


1  Long-headed.    "This  word  is  applied  in  ethnology  to  the  persons 
or  races  having  skulls  the  diameter  of  which  from  side  to  side,  or  the 
transverse    diameter,    is    small    in    comparison    with   the    longitudinal 
diameter,  or  that  from  the  front  to  the  back.     .     .     .     Broca  applies 
the  term  dolichocephalic  to  skulls  having  a  cephalic  index  of  75  and 
under,  and  this  limit  is  generally  adopted." — Cent.  Dist,  vol.  i.     The 
opposite  is  brachycephalic,  short-headed. 

2  Huxley's  divisions  of  mankind. 

3  All  of  these  have  been  used  to  differentiate  races. 

(167) 


168  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

thinks,  not  as  a  man  looks,  finally  fixes  his  status. 
Thoughts  and  not  bites  win  the  battles  of  life.  This 
is  as  true  racially  as  individually.  Racial  distinctions 
are  psychical  rather  than  physical.  Slav,  Saxon,  and 
Latin  are  far  more  dissimilar  in  mental  habit  than  in 
physical  contour.  Mental  habit  rather  than  physical 
form  differentiated  Greece  and  Rome.  Many  attempts 
have  been  made  to  classify  mankind,  but  the  intellec 
tual  division  into  sensorimotor4  and  ideomotor5  is 
the  most  far-reaching.  Just  as  the  ideomotor  mind  is 
the  winning  one  in  the  individual,  so  it  is  in  the  race. 
Reason  should  dominate  sensation  and  will  guide 
emotion  if  the  individual  or  race  is  to  keep  the  orbit 
of  success.  Such  a  mind  never  loses  its  sense  of  pro 
portion  nor  thinks  the  troubles  incident  to  human 
existence  its  peculiar  besetments. 

When  a  person  gives  himself  over  to  prolonged 
and  exclusive  emphasis  upon  one  or  two  ideas,  he 
eventually  ceases  to  have  ideas.  This  is  as  true  of  a 
community  or  race  as  of  an  individual,  and  is  the  only 
real  danger  with  which  the  race  question  threatens  the 
South;  that  is,  this  section  may  become  monomaniac 
(crazy)  on  the  Negro. 5a  The  greatest  problem  the 

4  Moved  by  feelings  or  sensations. 

5  Moved  by  thoughts  or  ideas. 

5*  No  other  explanation  can  be  given  of  the  power  in  the  South  of 
what  the  learned  contributing  editor  of  the  New  York  Age  calls  "Bogey 
man"  politics  and  economics.  Here  are  three  recent  examples  from 
widely  distributed  Southern  points  : — 

(a)  A  group  of  colored  citizens,  taxpayers,  called  a  meeting  to  dis 
cuss  some  city-welfare  problems  and  invited  the  mayor  to  address  them. 
He  did  so.  The  next  day  his  political  opponents  set  forth  a.  full-page 
argument  in  the  local  press  showing  he  should  be  defeated  "because  he 
addressed  niggers  as  'ladies  and  gentlemen.' " 

(fr)  A  conservative  and  prosperous  daily  in  a  Southern  city  with  a 
large  colored  population  added  a  page  of  news  about  respectable  colored 
people,  and  though  this  page  appeared  only  in  the  papers  distributed  to 
colored  patrons  a  campaign  was  inaugurated  to  put  this  paper  out  of 
business. 

(c)  A  laundry  found  colored  washerwomen  serious  competitors. 
To  overcome  this,  little  printed  slips  were  put  in  packages  from  the 
laundry  systematically  slandering  the  colored  women,  even  going  so  far 
as  to  charge  one  with  using  a  baby's  dress  for  a  shroud  for  her  own 


Full-blood  types  :    a  brilliant  high-school  teacher  and  a  winner 
of  intellectual  prizes. 


The  Negro  and  Progress  in  the  South.          169 

South  has  had  to  face  was  the  fateful  transition  from 
an  oligarchy  to  a  democracy.  The  governmental 
principle  of  slavery  and  not  the  ethnological  classifica 
tion  of  the  slave  was,  and  is,  the  vexing  question. 

The  serfs  in  Russia  were  manumitted  two  years 
before  Lincoln's  famous  edict.  Neither  the  color 
question  nor  the  passions  of  war  complicated  the. situa 
tion  there,  and  yet  the  Russian  serfs  have  not  made 
nearly  so  much  progress  toward  democracy  as  the 
American  Negroes. 

Before  the  war  the  South  was  an  aristocracy  or 
oligarchy.  The  slaveholders  formed  an  upper  or 
ruling  class.  There  were  two  subject  classes:  the 
non-slaveholding  whites  and  the  enslaved  blacks.  The 
poor  whites  were  nominally  free ;  but,  beyond  the  con 
trol  of  their  own  bodies,  they  had  few  more  privileges 
than  the  slaves.  It  was  the  irony  of  fate  that  these 
subject  classes  should  assist  in  their  own  degradation 
by  mutual  enmity.  It  was  easy  for  the  ruling  class  to 
use  one  of  the  subject  classes  to  oppress  the  other.  A 
common  degradation  and  a  common  ignorance  in 
tensified  ethnic  differences.  Each  was  ever  ready  to 
curtail  the  other's  happiness.  The  slaves  rejoiced  in 
the  poverty  and  squalor  of  the  "po  white  trash,"  and 
the  poor  whites  delighted  in  the  sufferings  of  the 
"niggahs."  It  was  the  overseer  and  the  "patroller' 
rather  than  the  masters  that  put  the  terror  in  "those 
agonizing  cruel  slavery  days." 

There  were  many  and  happy  exceptions,  but  this 
condition  was  the  rule. 

The  war  freed  the  slaves  and  broke  the  power  of 


dead  child  and  then  returning  it  after  the  funeral  to  her  patron  without 
washing  it  again.  This  villainous  rascality  was  exposed  by  an  accident. 
One  of  the  slips  was  placed  in  the  package  of  a  colored  patron.  Yes ! 
This  laundry  did  work  for  colored  people. 

Only  an  abnormal  popular  sensitiveness  could  make  such  transparent 
trickery  profitable, 


170  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

the  masters,  but  left  the  poor  whites  and  old-time 
enmities  untouched.  "The  Reconstruction  was  a 
bridge  of  wood  over  a  river  of  fire."  Slavery  was 
tyranny  with  order.  Emancipation  was  freedom  with 
out  order.  The  carpet-bagger  sought  to  restore  order 
and  establish  government  by  using  the  freedman. 
The  natural  result  followed.  The  former  aristocracy 
united  with  the  poor  whites  on  racial  grounds. 

The  uncultured  and  irresponsible  part  of  this  latter 
combination  being  the  most  numerous,  eventually 
came  into  control.  Shrewd  leaders  found  them  as 
susceptible  to  a  class  appeal  against  the  former  leaders 
as  the  former  leaders  had  found  them  susceptible  to  a 
race  appeal  against  the  Negroes;6  and  the  cultured 
aristocracy  ceased  to  dominate  the  "white  primary." 
Things  went  from  bad  to  worse.  Plebeian  leaders  of 
brains  and  character,  but  without  breadth  or  culture, 
who  had  succeeded  men  with  all  four  qualifications, 
were  now  themselves  displaced  by  men  with  neither 
qualification.  By  the  cry  of  "nigger  domination"  all 
opposition  was  silenced  and  the  demagogue  was  in 
clover.  The  nightmare  of  new  constitutions  and  Jim 
Crowism  followed. 

"Dark  indeed  must  be  the  fate  of  any  land  if  com 
pelled  to  approach  the  solution  of  any  significant  prob 
lem  of  its  life  with  its  lips  sealed  and  its  reason  bound." 
It  was  just  under  these  conditions  that  the  South 
attempted  to  establish  democratic  government.  "The 


6  Class  distinction,  and  not  racial  purity,  is  the  actuating  motive  in 
most  of  the  Jim  Crow  laws.  Take  the  Texas  definition  of  a  separate 
car  as  defined  in  the  act  of  1890:  "Each  compartment  of  a  coach 
divided  by  a  good  and  substantial  wooden  partition,  with  a  door  therein, 
shall  be  considered  a  separate  coach  within  the  meaning  of  this  act." 

The  drawing-room  of  a  sleeping-car  fulfills  these  conditions  better 
than  any  of  the  Jim  Crow  cars  in  use.  Yet  in  this  State  the  use  of 
the  drawing-room  is  usually  denied  colored  passengers.  The  writer 
was  denied  the  use  of  an  unoccupied  drawing-room  even  at  the  request 
of  a  Southern  white  passenger  who  had  polled  the  car  and  assured  the 
conductor  that  there  was  no  one  who  objected  to  his  occupying  it. 


The  Negro  and  Progress  in  the  South.          171 

ignorant  were  assertive  and  the  educated  were  silent." 
Small  wonder  that  she  grew  hysterical  and  "saw  red," 
and  confused  every  manner  of  social  and  economic 
question  with  the  Negro  problem.  Woman  suffrage, 
child  labor,  prohibition,  party  government,  illiteracy, 
the  drug  habit,  prison  reform,  minimum  wage,  pov 
erty,  crime,  prostitution,  any  of  these  subjects  pro 
voked  but  discussion  of  the  Negro  problem.  In  a  large 
measure  this  is  the  condition  now,  though  there  are 
signs  of  improvement. 

This  condition  was  intensified  by  two  phases  of 
outside  interference : — 

1.  Those  inexperienced  but  good-natured  "wise 
acres,"  who  proposed  to  solve  at  once  the  ethnical 
riddle  for  the  South,  "judging  where  they  did  not 
know  and  advising  where  they  had  not  suffered." 
Though  no  two  of  them  could  agree,  each  thought  the 
South  ought  to  accept  his  remedy. 

2.  Those  Job's  comforters  that  kept  telling  the 
South  how  bad  off  she  was,  and  pitying  her  awful  con 
dition,  encouraging  the  hysteria  without  offering  a 
remedy. 

Past  history  and  current  events  were  alike  ignored. 
The  judgment  was  starved  and  the  imagination  stimu 
lated.  The  South  failed  to  recognize  that  the  difficul 
ties  with  which  it  was  dealing  were,  in  a  large  meas 
ure,  common  to  every  civilization.  It  was  simply 
struggling  "with  the  age-long  divisive  fate  of  racial 
cleavage,"  that  by  no  means  included  all  its  social, 
economic,  and  political  problems. 

But  notwithstanding  all  this,  there  are  few  spots 
on  earth  today  where  the  people  are  happier  and  bet 
ter  off  than  here  in  the  South.  There  is  no  land  of 
more  promise. 


172  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 


II. 

It  was  inevitable  that  the  Negro  should  be  left  out 
in  the  Souths  first  strivings  after  democracy.  It  is 
just  as  inevitable  that  he  must  be  taken  in  ere  she 
attain  that  desirable  goal.  Under  what  conditions  is 
this  possible,  if  possible  at  all?  Is  there  anything  in 
the  blood  or  beliefs  of  the  Afro- American  incompatible 
with  the  progress  of  the  South  ?  It  is  purely  a  matter 
of  blood  and  belief;  for  color  and  feature  have  long 
been  eliminated  from  the  race  question  in  the  South. 
Black  is  white  and  white  is  black.  Black  people 
(Aryans)  in  North  Africa  are  white,  and  white 
people  (Octoroons,  etc.)  in  the  South  are  black.  (See 
illustration,  page  125.) 

Nobody  with  any  pretensions  to  intelligence  will 
claim  that  the  average  Afro-American  is  ulotrichous 
(woolly  haired)  and  characterized  by  "a  dark-brown 
to  black  color,  an  abnormal  length  of  arm,  projection 
of  the  jaws,  a  short  flat  nose,  thick  and  everted  lips,  a 
full  black  eye,  a  thick  skull,  small  cranial  capacity,  and 
early  closure  of  the  cranial  sutures."  (Standard 
Dictionary. )  ( See  Chapter  XIV. ) 

The  brain-weight  argument  has  died  of  inanition. 
That  size  of  brain  does  not  necessarily  indicate  brain- 
capacity  the  following  statement  from  Dr.  Bean  will 
show : — 

"So  then  the  brain  weights  do  not  necessarily  rep 
resent  the  exact  racial  differences  between  the  Negro 
and  Caucasian,  but  do  perhaps  show  that  the  low-class 
Caucasian  has  a  larger  brain  than  the  better  class 
Negro."  (R.  B.  Bean,  "Racial  Peculiarities  of  the 
Negro  Brain.") 

This  construction  is  inevitable  unless  we  credit  Dr. 
Bean  with  the  monstrous  contention  that  low-class 
Caucasians  are  intellectually  superior  to  the  better 


The  Negro  atid  Progress  in  the  South.          173 

class  Negroes,  or  the  equally  untenable  proposition 
that  Negro  men  have  more  sense  than  white  women; 
for  "the  average  brain  weight  is  greater  in  the 
Caucasian  male,  least  in  the  Negro  female,  and  inter 
mediate  in  the  Negro  male  and  Caucasian  female." 
(Bean.) 

Prof.  Boas  has  truly  said :  "If  we  were  to  assume 
a  direct  relation  between  size  of  brain  and  ability, — 
which,  as  we  have  seen  before,  is  not  admissible, — we 
might,  at  most,  anticipate  a  lack  of  men  of  high  genius, 
but  should  not  expect  any  great  lack  of  faculty  among 
the  great  mass  of  Negroes  living  among  the  whites, 
and  enjoying  the  advantages  of  the  leadership  of  the 
best  men  of  that  race."7 

Mr.  Josiah  Royce  ("Race  Questions  and  Other 
American  Problems")  says:  "For  after  all  it  is  a 
man's  mind"  rather  than  his  skull,  or  his  hair,  or  his 
skin,  that  we  most  need  to  estimate.  And  if  hereupon 
we  ask  ourselves  just  how  these  physical  varieties  of 
human  stock,  just  how  these  shades  of  color,  these 
types  of  hair,  these  forms  of  skull,  or  these  contours  of 
body,  are  related  to  the  mental  powers  and  to  the 
moral  characteristics  of  the  men  in  question,  then,  if 
only  we  set  prejudice  wholly  aside,  and  appeal  to 
science  to  help  us,  we  find  ourselves  in  the  present 
state  of  knowledge  almost  hopelessly  at  sea.  We 
know  too  little  as  yet  about  the  natural  history  of  the 
human  mind,  our  psychology  is  far  too  infantile  a 
science,  to  give  us  any  precise  information  as  to  the 
way  in  which  the  inherited,  the  native,  the  constitu 
tional  aspects  of  the  minds  of  men  really  vary  with 
their  complexions  or  with  their  hair." 

Only  those  intimately  associated  with  the  Negro 
know  of  those  latent  capacities  by  which  he  so  often 


7  Franz  Boas,  "Mind  of  Primitive  Man." 


174  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

transcends  the  limitations  of  his  heritage  and  makes 
the  prophets  lie. 

But  what  is  democracy,  and  who  is  entitled  to  its 
privileges?  A  democracy  is  a  government  of  the 
people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people ;  and  every  man  is 
entitled  to  participate  in  the  exact  proportion  to  the 
manhood  his  character  will  show  under  the  test  of 
civic  duty.  His  value  as  a  citizen  depends  upon  his 
value  as  a  man. 

"Democracy  in  its  essence  has  arrived  when  the 
rich  man  and  the  poor  man,  the  man  of  the  professions 
and  the  man  of  trade,  the  privileged  and  the  un 
privileged,  unite  to  build  the  common  school  for  the 
children  of  the  State." 

Democracy's  peril  is  injustice,  not  color.  The 
South  is  not  yet  by  any  means  fully  committed  to  the 
doctrine  of  popular  education.  The  acuteness  of  the 
race  problem  is  greatest  where  popular  education  has 
the  least  hold  on  the  ruling  classes.  The  spirit  that 
refuses  public-school  accommodation  to  the  colored 
children  of  Atlanta  is  the  spirit  that  made  the  Atlanta 
mob.  Injustice  feeds  on  itself.  Unfairness  has  ever 
sought  to  justify  itself  by  cruelty.  Neither  color  nor 
race  has  anything  to  do  with  it.8  The  poor  whites 
were  as  illiterate  as  the  colored  people  under  the  slave 
oligarchy. 

"Democracy  does  not  mean  the  erasure  of  in 
dividuality  in  the  man,  the  family,  or  the  race.  Its 
unity  is  truer  and  richer  because  not  run  in  one  color 
or  expressed  in  monotony  of  form.  Like  all  vital 
unities,  it  is  composite.  It  is  consistent  with  the  in 
dividuality  of  the  man;  it  is  consistent  with  the  full 
individuality  and  the  separate  integrity  of  the  races. 
No  one  has  ever  asserted  that  the  racial  individuality 


8  In  his  "Two  Years  Before  the  Mast,"  Dana  describes  "a  flogging 
at  sea"  that  shows  this  point  very  clearly. 


The  Negro  and  Progress  in  the  South.          175 

of  the  Jew,  preserved  for  sixty  centuries  and  through 
more  than  sixty  civilizations,  by  convictions  from 
within  and  by  pressure  from  without,  was  a  contra 
diction  of  democratic  life.  Democracy  does  not  in 
volve  the  fusion  of  the  races  any  more  than  it  involves 
the  fusion  of  the  creeds  or  the  fusion  of  the  arts.  It 
does  not  imply  that  the  finality  of  civilization  of  man 
is  in  the  man  who  is  white  or  in  the  man  who  is 
black,  but  in  the  man,  white  or  black,  who  is  a  man. 
Manhood,  in  democracy,  is  the  essential  basis  of  par 
ticipation."  ( Murphy. ) 

Democracy  means  co-operation,  individual  integ 
rity,  peace.  Fitness,  not  race,  is  the  test.  Oppor 
tunity,  not  fusion,  is  the  aim.  "Intelligence  is  the  only 
safe  foundation  upon  which  tree  institutions  can 
rest,"  said  Jefferson. 

This  nation  was  "conceived  in  liberty  and  dedi 
cated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created 
equal."  We  are  now  "testing  whether  any  nation  so 
conceived  and  so  dedicated  can  long  endure."  Let  us 
work  and  pray  "that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall 
have  a  new  birth  of  freedom  and  that  government  of 
the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall  not 
perish  from  the  earth."  The  acid  test  of  American 
civilization  is  the  Negro  question  in  the  South. 

III. 

The  charge  that  the  presence  of  the  Negro  detracts 
from  civilization  is  not  well  founded.  The  colored 
man  is  just  as  anxious  as  the  white  man  to  preserve 
American  civilization.  The  Negro  knozvs  that  his  own 
safety  depends  upon  Caucasian  civilization. 

What  has  morality  to  do  with  the  texture  of  the 
hair?  Suppose  the  Negro's  hair  is  woolly.  A  sheep 
is  as  moral  as  a  goat  and  less  odorous.  Some  dogs  are 


176  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

woolly  and  some  have  straight  hair,  but  they  are  all 
dogs. 

Why  must  the  Negro  be  like  the  white  man? 
What  has  facial  angle  to  do  with  brain-capacity?  Is 
prognathism  any  more  prevalent  among  the  Afro- 
Americans  than  among  the  people  of  Southeast 
Europe  ? 

As  for  this  country  being  better  off  without  the 
Negro;  so  the  Germans  think  of  the  English,  and 
vice  versa. 

There  is  no  need  of  any  new  principles  in  the 
Negro's  case.  The  general  program  for  the  good  of 
mankind  and  of  the  nation  without  any  modification 
reaches  the  colored  man's  needs. 

There  are  two  sides  to  every  shield.  The  Negro's 
presence  in  this  country  has  advantaged  the  white 
man,  and  the  white  man's  t  opposition  has  inured  to 
the  progress  of  the  Negro. 

IV. 

In  man's  fight  with  nature,  environment  is  his 
greatest  aid  or  greatest  hindrance.  The  world  is 
divided  into  six  continents:  three  northern, — Asia, 
Europe,  and  North  America;  three  southern, — Aus 
tralia,  Africa,  and  South  America.  A  generation  ago 
the  great  geographer,  Guyot,  said : — 

"Asia,  Europe,  and  North  America  are  the  three 
grand  stages  of  humanity  in  its  march  through  the 
ages.  Asia  is  the  cradle  where  man  passed  his  in 
fancy,  under  the  authority  of  the  law,  and  where  he 
learned  his  dependence  upon  a  sovereign  master. 
Europe  is  the  school  where  his  youth  was  trained, 
where  he  waxed  in  strength  and  knowledge,  grew  to 
manhood,  and  learned  at  once  his  liberty  and  his  moral 
responsibility.  America  is  the  theater  of  his  activity 


Editorial  staff  of  the  Journal  of  National  Medical  Association. 


The  Negro  and  Progress  in  the  South.         177 

during  the  period  of  his  manhood;  the  land  where  he 
applies  and  practises  all  he  has  learned,  brings  into 
action  all  the  forces  he  has  acquired,  and  where  he  is 
still  to  learn  that  the  entire  development  of  his  being 
and  his  own  happiness  are  possible  only  by  willing 
obedience  to  the  laws  of  his  Maker. 

"The  geographical  march  of  history  must  have 
convinced  us: — 

"i.  That  the  three  continents  of  the  North  are 
organized  for  the  development  of  man,  and  that  we 
may  rightly  name  them  pre-eminently  the  historical 
continents. 

"2.  That  each  of  these  three  continents,  by  virtue 
of  its  very  structure,  and  of  its  physical  qualities, 
has  a  special  function  in  the  education  of  mankind, 
and  corresponds  to  one  of  the  periods  of  his  de 
velopment. 

"3.  That  in  proportion  as  this  development  ad 
vances,  and  civilization  is  perfected,  and  gains  in  in 
tensity,  the  physical  domain  it  occupies  gains  in  extent 
and  the  number  of  cultivated  nations  increases. 

"4.  That  the  entire  physical  creation  corresponds 
to  the  moral  creation,  and  is  only  explained  by  it. 

'The  three  continents  of  the  South,  outcasts  in 
appearance, — can  they  have  been  destined  to  an 
eternal  isolation,  doomed  never  to  participate  in  that 
higher  life  of  humanity,  the  sketch  of  which  we  have 
traced  ?  And  shall  those  gifts  nature  bestows  on  them 
with  lavish  hand  remain  unused?  No;  such  a  doom 
cannot  be  in  the  plans  of  God.  But  the  races  inhabit 
ing  them  are  captives  in  the  bonds  of  all-powerful 
nature;^  they  will  never  break  down  the  fences  that 
sunder  them  from  us.  It  is  for  us,  the  favored  races, 
to  go  to  them.  Tropical  nature  cannot  be  conquered 
and  subdued,  save  by  civilized  men,  armed  with  all  the 

9  Italics  by  the  author. 

12 


178  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

might  of  discipline,  intelligence,  and  of  skillful  in 
dustry.  It  is,  then,  from  the  northern  continents  that 
those  from  the  South  await  their  deliverance;  it  is  by 
the  help  of  civilized  men  of  the  temperate  continents 
that  it  shall  be  vouchsafed  to  the  men  of  the  tropical 
lands  to  enter  into  the  movement  of  universal  progress 
and  improvement,  wherein  mankind  should  share. 

"The  three  northern  continents,  however,  seem 
made  to  be  the  leaders;  the  three  southern,  the  aids. 
The  people  of  the  temperate  continents  will  always  be 
the  men  of  intelligence,  of  activity,  the  brain  of  human 
ity,  if  I  may  venture  to  say  so;  the  people  of  the 
tropical  continents  will  always  be  the  hands,  the  work 
men,  the  toil."  . 

Assuming  the  biological  unity  of  man,  environ 
ment  becomes  the  deciding  factor  in  human  hegemony 
(leadership) .  The  rise  of  Japan  and  the  awakening  of 
China  seem  to  indicate  the  intention  and  ability  of  Asia 
to  maintain  her  historic  primacy  over  her  southern 
counterpart,  notwithstanding  the  world-conquering 
white  man  has  supplanted  the  black  man  there.  White 
encroachments  upon  Africa,  whether  north,  south, 
east,  or  west,  give  no  indication  of  the  probability  of 
that  continent  endangering  the  relative  historic  impor 
tance  of  Europe  in  the  annals  of  the  human  race.  The 
geographical  march  of  civilization  will  not  be  changed 
by  the  distribution  of  races,  and  North  America  will 
become  the  scene  of  man's  third  and  greatest  efforts  to 

"Build  his  life  with  love  and  gladness 
Into  the  structure  of  the  universe." 

"Thus  we  may,  perhaps,  foresee  that  the  American 
Union,  already  the  most  numerous  association  of  men 
that  has  ever  existed  voluntarily  united  under  the  same 
law,  will  hereafter  become,  even  within  the  limits  of 
its  present  confines,  a  true  social  world,  transcending 


The  Negro  and  Progress  in  the  South.          179 

in  grandeur  and  unity  the  most  impressive  spectacles 
of  human  greatness  the  history  of  the  past  ages  holds 
up  to  our  view."  (Guyot.) 

This  glorious  destiny  will  be  the  triumph  of  human 
ity.  All  nations  and  kindreds  and  tongues  will  be  con 
tributing  factors.  The  African  will  be  no  exception. 
In  this  glorious  destiny  of  her  exiled  sons  and  daugh 
ters  will  be  fulfilled  the  prophesy  that  "Ethiopia  shall 
stretch  forth  her  hands  unto  God."  The  historic 
meaning  of  the  slave-trade  is  that  the  African  shall  be 
a  participant  in  the  triumphs  of  civilization  in  North 
America.  And  neither  heights  nor  depths,  nor  prin 
cipalities  nor  powers,  nor  things  past  nor  things  to 
come  shall  separate  him  from  this  glorious  privilege. 
A  privilege  he  has  won  by  faithful  service  and  shall 
enjoy  as  a  distinctive  ethnical  entity — not  as  the  mon 
grel  spawn  of  a  despised  miscegenation.  So  the  Negro 
believes. 

The  Negro  at  his  best  neither  hates  nor  fears  the 
white  man  at  his  best;  but,  mirabile  dictu,  they  love  and 
trust  each  other. ,10 

V. 

The  doctrine  of  heredity  as  taught  by  some  phases 
of  modern  science  seems  destined  to  teach  in  terms  of 
biology  the  faith-killing  doctrine  of  predestination  that 
was  once  fastened  upon  mankind  in  the  name  of 
religion. 

In  sociology  and  statescraft  it  is  even  worse. 
There  is  not  an  argument  made  by  a  politician  today 
that  was  not  old  in  the  Golden  Age  of  Greece,  and  trite 
when  Caesar  paused  upon  the  banks  of  the  Rubicon. 
Just  the  other  day  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina  was 
setting  forth  what  "God  Almighty  intended"  with  as 

10  See  "Address  before  Am.  Economic  Assoc.,"  Dec.  29,   1903,  by 
Edwin  A.  Alderman,  LL.D.,  Pres.  Tulane  Univ.,  New  Orleans,  La, 


180  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

much  assurance  as  Bishop  Usher  fixed  the  date  of 
creation. 

Our  enemies  are  persistent  in  their  reference  to  our 
savage  ancestry.  Science  believes  in  the  rise  of  man 
rather  than  in  the  fall  of  man.  The  Golden  Age  lies 
before  us  and  not  behind  us.  How  long  does  it  take 
for  a  man  to  become  civilized?  It  depends  upon  the 
opportunities  and  the  method.  A  thousand  genera 
tions  of  Europeans  lived  and  died  having  never 
reached  America,  and  vice  verm;  but  now  it  is  a  matter 
of  a  few  days.  The  Negroes  of  the  United  States  of 
America  are  a  civilized  people  regardless  of  ancestry. 

But  is  there  anything  in  the  blood  of  the  Afro- 
American  to  disqualify  him  for  the  duties  and  re 
straints  of  civilization?  Let  us  take  a  look  at  the 
native  African. 

First,  there  are  many  "races,  tribes,  and  peoples" 
in  Africa.  The  Afro-American  ancestry  is  drawn 
from  all  of  these  sources.  It  is  historic  ignorance,  if 
not  malicious  mendacity,  to  claim  the  lowest  types  of 
"Guinea  Nigger"  as  the  sole  ancestor  of  the  American 
Negro.11 

"Africa  is  the  one  continent  whose  population  is 
composed  almost  entirely  of  dark  people.  For,  al 
though  Africa  is  his  home,  the  black  man,  the  pure 
Negro,  has  not  been  left  to  live  there  alone  during  the 
centuries.  The  result  is  that  through  the  mingling  of 
Negro  blood  with  that  of  lighter  races  the  population 
of  Africa  is  more  brown  than  black."12 

"In  any  description  of  the  African  himself  it  must 
be  remembered  that  there  is  a  difference  between  the 
primitive  native  of  the  interior,  away  from  outside  in 
fluences,  and  the  native  who,  through  long  contact 


n  See  Chapter  XIV. 

12  "Daybreak  in  the  Dark  Continent." 


The  Negro  and  Progress  in  the  South.          181 

with  Christian  or  Mohammedan  civilization,  has  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree  altered  his  primitive  mode  of 
life.  .  .  .  Changes  in  dress,  in  customs  which 
endanger  human  life,  and  in  industries  are  the  most 
apparent." 

Bishop  Taylor  closes  the  first  chapter  of  his  "Flam 
ing  Torch  in  Darkest  Africa"  with  these  words :  "Yet 
amid  all  the  shadows  which  we  have  faintly  portrayed 
there  are  many  beautiful  bright  lights,  shining  all  the 
brighter  from  the  somber  hue  of  the  background. 
Even  amid  the  moral  darkness  there  shine  forth  vir 
tues  which  would  do  honor  to  society  in  its  most  refined 
and  exalted  state.  Domestic  affection  generally  per 
vades  African  society,  and  generous  hospitality  is 
often  shown  to  travellers.  The  varieties  of  nature  and 
character,  the  alternations  of  nature's  wildness  and 
beauty,  of  lawless  violence  and  the  most  generous 
kindness,  render  travelling  in  this  continent  more 
interesting  than  in  any  other  quarter  of  the  globe." 

"Their  (the  Kaffirs)  features  were  almost  Euro 
pean,"  says  Barrow,  "and  their  dark,  sparkling  eyes 
bespoke  vivacity  and  intelligence.  The  men  were  the 
finest  figures  that  the  travellers  had  ever  seen,  con 
siderably  above  the  middle  size,  robust,  and  muscular, 
yet  marked  with  elegant  symmetry.  Their  deport 
ment  was  easy,  and  their  expression  frank,  generous, 
and  fearless."  (See  also  Chapter  XIV.) 

I  was  a  young  man  when  an  entire  British  regi 
ment  was  annihilated  in  a  war  with  these  people.  I 
remember  distinctly  an  oft-quoted  sentence  credited 
to  a  British  officer :  "The  Zulus  are  the  finest  race  of 
savages  the  world  has  ever  seen." 

Mr.  J.  W.  Work,  professor  of  history  in  Fisk 
University,  who  is  a  great  singer  and  has  met  many 
people,  told  me  of  the  following  experience:  "An 
English  lady  whose  husband  was  an  officer  in  the 


182  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

English  Army  during  the  South  African  War,  told  me 
this  story: — 

"  'My  husband  lost  his  life  early  in  the  war  and  I 
served  as  nurse.  I  had  to  trek  many,  many  miles,  and 
often  I  was  miles  and  miles  from  any  white  people, 
with  no  protection  other  than  black  Zulus.  Many  a 
night  I  have  passed  in  the  black  forest  with  them,  and 
not  once  was  there  any  suspicion  of  harm  to  me.  They 
were  always  careful,  particular,  and  brave,  and  I  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  I,  under  the  protection  of  the 
Zulus,  was  in  the  safest  place  in  South  Africa. 

"  They  have  a  tremendous  standard  of  morality. 
The  white  men  in  South  Africa  care  for  no  other  bond 
or  pledge  than  the  word  of  the  Zulu.  I  have  seen  them 
ply  the  Zulu  with  "Give  me  your  word;  give  me  your 
word."  When  this  is  given,  it  is  enough.  The  Zulu 
keeps  his  word  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  any  man 
who  breaks  his  word/  : 

There  is  in  the  native  African  blood  no  menace  to 
female  chastity.13  Crime  is  sociological  and  not 
ethnological.  The  remedy  is  even-handed,  inflexible 
justice;  swift,  deliberate,  and  sure,  but  under  the 
established  forms  of  civilization.  If  any  scoundrel 
rocks  the  boat  of  social  security,  let  us  not  upset  the 
boat  to  drown  him,  but  deliberately  throzv  him  over 
board. 

Of  the  Hottentots,  Sanger  says :  "Intelligent  and 
well-conducted  women  have  attracted  the  notice  of 
travellers."  The  same  author  says :  "It  is  important 
to  mention  that  where  these  people  have  embraced 
Christianity,  their  manners  have  totally  changed; 
polygamy  has  been  renounced,  and  they  manifest  an 
inclination  to  conform  to  the  morals  taught  them." 

Dorothy  Amaury  Talbot,  a  white  woman,  writing 


is  See    also    what    Sir   Harry    Johnston    says    on   this    subject    in 
Chapter  IV. 


The  Negro  and  Progress  in   the  South.          183 

from  personal  knowledge  of  the  Ibibios  of  Southern 
Nigeria,  says:  "This  strange  race,  comprising  some 
three-quarters  of  a  million  souls,  inhabits  the  south 
eastern  part  of  Southern  Nigeria.  Before  our  arrival 
at  the  Eket  district,  which  forms  the  southernmost 
stretch  of  Ibibio  Country,  we  had  been  informed  that 
the  natives  of  these  regions  were  of  the  lowest  possible 
type,  entirely  without  ethnological  interest,  and  indeed 
little  better  than  'mud-fish/  Saving  the  more  civilized 
Efiks,  it  is  indisputable  that  Ibibios  occupy  a  low  rung 
on  the  ladder  of  culture,  and  are  as  brutal  and  blood 
thirsty  as  any  people  throughout  the  Dark  Continent. 
Yet,  to  our  minds  at  least,  it  would  appear  that  their 
present  condition  is  due  to  gradual  descent  from  a 
very  different  state  of  things.  Fragments  of  legend 
and  half- forgotten  ritual  still  survive  to  tell  of  times, 
shrouded  in  the  midst  of  antiquity,  when  the  despised 
Ibibio  of  today  was  a  different  being,  dwelling  not 
amid  the  fog  and  swamp  of  fetishism,  but  upon  the 
sunlit  heights  of  a  religious  culture  perhaps  hardly  less 
highly  evolved  than  that  of  ancient  Egypt.14 

"The  child  cult  is  by  no  means  so  much  in  evidence 
among  the  Ibibios  as  among  the  gentler-natured  semi- 
Bantu  Ekoi,  where  unkindness  to  little  ones  was  prac 
tically  unknown,  and  parents  vied  with  each  other  in 
tender  care  of  their  children.  Yet  even  here,  in  spite 
of  the  almost  ceaseless  drudgery  of  their  lives,  the 
women  lavish  care  on  their  little  brown  piccans,  and 
no  case  of  a  neglectful  mother  has  come  to  our  notice. 

"Ibibio  babies  are  nearly  always  well  nourished, 
and  roll  and  creep  contentedly  in  the  warm  sand. 
They  take  considerable  part  in  the  lives  of  their  elders, 
proudly  riding  to  market  astride  the  hip  of  a  busy 
mother,  safe  girdled  in  the  curve  of  her  arm." 
(Harper,  March,  1915.) 

14  Sir  Harry  Johnston  expresses  the  same  idea. 


184  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

"The  native  African  is  a  good  smith  and  potter 
when  occasion  requires.  Modern  investigation  points 
to  the  African  as  the  first  smelter  of  iron.  The  primi 
tive  African  in  grazing  sections  cares  for  small  herds, 
that  he  himself  may  occasionally  fare  sumptuously,  or 
may  set  a  feast  for  an  honored  guest. 

"Domestic  slavery,  degrading  to  morals,  unfair  to 
the  rights  of  man,  and  cruel  as  it  often  is  in  its  prac 
tice,  cannot  be  said,  taken  all  in  all,  to  be  the  unmiti 
gated  curse  to  the  continent  that  foreign  slavery  has 
been. 

"Perhaps  the  family  relations  are  closer  than  the 
observer  deems  them  to  be.  With  all  its  looseness  of 
connection,  the  family  has  cohesive  features.  The 
African's  sense  of  honor  is  displayed.  Crafty  to  a  foe, 
he  is  exceedingly  loyal  to  a  friend." 

Bishop  Hartzell  says :  "The  most  interesting  thing 
in  Africa  is  the  native  himself ;  the  more  I  see  him  and 
study  him,  the  more  I  respect  him.  If  I  had  a  thousand 
tongues  and  each  of  them  were  inspired  by  the  gifts  of 
the  prophets  of  old,  all  should  be  dedicated  to  pleading 
for  this  people/' 

The  facts  of  history  clearly  prove  that  there  is 
nothing  bad  in  the  white  man's  makeup  which  has 
come  to  the  surface  in  his  association  with  the  African 
but  what  he  has  manifested  in  the  absence  of  the 
African;15  nor  is  there  anything  good  in  the  character 
of  the  African  coming  to  the  surface  in  touch  with  the 
white  man  that  the  African  has  not  manifested  with 
out  the  touch  of  the  white  man.16  There  is  nothing 
in  the  history  of  either  Europe  or  Africa  to  justify  the 
claim  that  civilization  is  the  product  of  the  one  and 
beyond  the  attainment  of  the  other. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  blood  or  beliefs,  ancestry  or 

is  See  Chapter  V. 
i«  See  Chapter  VII. 


The  Negro  and  Progress  in  the  South.          185 

heredity,  of  the  Afro- American  incompatible  with  the 
highest  civilization.^1  "So  far  as  the  original  endow 
ment  of  the  Negro  is  concerned,  I  would  conclude 
that  there  is  nothing  in  kind  to  differentiate  him 
particularly  as  a  different  psychic  being  from  the 
Caucasian."18 

From  savagery  to  civilization  is  a  long  way.  The 
time  required  depends  upon  the  method  of  travel.  The 
dugout  and  ox-cart  are  no  match  for  the  steamboat  and 
the  motor-car.  The  question  then  is,  not  where  did 
he  start  from,  nor  how  long  has  he  been  on  the  road, 
but  has  he  arrived?  (See  illustration,  "university 
men.") 

VI. 

My  mother  taught  me  faith  in  God ;  but  experience 
taught  me  faith  in  man.  I  am  not  old ;  yet  my  memory 
of  men  and  events  covers  the  realization  of  many 
things  deemed  impossible.  I  have  talked  with  men 
who  saw  the  first  steamboat,  and  who  heard  the 
speeches  against  granting  the  first  railroad  the  right 
to  run  at  the  "dangerous  speed  of  twelve  miles  an 
hour."  My  father  told  me  about  the  first  matches,  and 
my  mother  told  me  of  the  first  sewing-machines.  My 
uncle  was  arrested  as  a  "dangerous  incendiary,"  be 
cause  he  prophesied  that  the  slaves  in  the  South  would 
be  free.  I  had  a  teacher  who  saw  the  first  iron  boat 


17  Perhaps  the  climax  of  heartlessness  was  found  in  the  white 
masters  selling  their  own  children  by  slave  women;  but  that  this  was 
not  peculiar  to  his  association  with  the  African  the  following  will 
show:  "At  the  time  of  the  Norman  conquest,  such  was  their  degrada 
tion  and  such  the  irreverence  with  which  the  half -converted  barbarians 
conformed  to  the  religious  usages  of  the  age,  that  the  nobles,  instead 
of  attending  at  church  would  have  matins  and  mass  performed  in 
the  chambers  where  they  were  in  bed  with  their  wives  and  concubines. 
.  .  .  .  It  was  -common  for  these  petty  tyrants  to  sell  their  female 
vassals  for  prostitution  at  home,  or  to  foreign  traders,  even  though 
they  were  pregnant  by  themselves."  Southey,  "Book  of  the  Church." 
(See  also  Chapter  V.) 

is  Dr.  Herbert  Miller,  "Bibliotheca  Sacra,"  April,  1906. 


186  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

and  who  talked  with  men  that  saw  the  first  telegraph. 
I  knew  a  travelling  man  who  was  chased  out  of  a  town 
because  he  insisted  that  he  had  seen  ice  made  in  hot 
weather.  Lamp-chimneys  and  coal-oil  were  marvels 
of  my  boyhood  days.  The  bicycle,  the  automobile,  the 
telephone,  the  electric  light,  the  gas  stove  and  the 
electric  car  are  well  within  my  personal  recollection. 
I  have  talked  with  physicians  that  knew  the  discover 
ers  of  ether  and  chloroform,  while  Lister  and  Pasteur 
are  only  recently  dead.  I  have  seen  the  impossibility 
of  flying  demonstrated  "ultimately  and  fundamen 
tally."  Talking-machines  and  moving  pictures  were 
considered  impossible  by  a  generation  that  is  still 
young.  The  demonstrated  efficiency  of  submarine 
ships  and  large-caliber  guns  is  alike  beyond  the  tales 
of  Munchausen  and  the  dreams  of  Jules  Verne. 

This  physical  development  is  but  a  reflex  of  men 
tal  and  moral  development.  A  creed  that  will  control 
conduct  and  a  government  that  ivill  do  justice  are 
among  the  probable  attainments  of  mankind. 

The  psalm-singing,  witch-burning,  rum-selling, 
man-stealing  slave-trader  no  more  envisaged  the 
ethical  ideals  of  today  than  did  the  victims  of  his 
rapacity  and  rum.  The  white  master  and  the  black 
slave  were  both  changed  by  their  experiences. 

There  is  in  the  nation  today  a  new  white  man  as 
much  as  there  is  a  new  Negro.  They  present  a  new 
phase  of  an  old  subject,  that  must  be  met  by  a  new 
application  of  old  principles.  The  newness  of  the  men 
and  the  newness  of  the  problems  are  matters  of  atti 
tude  and  relationship,  and  not  of  intrinsic  values. 
"Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?"  is  not  a  new  question, 
nor  is  murder  a  new  crime.  Justice  is  as  old  as  crime. 
Both  are  coeval  with  the  history  of  society. 

How  to  secure  the  triumph  of  justice  and  the 
elimination  of  crime  is  the  Gordian  knot  of  human 


The  Negro  and  Progress  in  the  South.          187 

relationship, — the  puzzle  of  the  ages.  Man  is  slowly 
learning  that  justice  must  exist  for  all  or  exist  for 
none — and  crime  against  the  humblest  individual  is 
against  society  itself ;  that  the  only  just  government  is 
by  the  consent  of  the  governed,  and  this  can  be  secured 
only  by  equality  of  opportunity.  This  new  child  of 
man's  wisdom,  f airplay,  is  now  face  to  face  with  the 
older  child  of  his  folly,  privilege.  Their  conflicting 
claims  constitute  the  apparently  irreducible  factors  in 
human  relationship.  The  fate  of  civilization  depends 
upon  the  adjudication  of  their  respective  claims.  The 
race  question  is  but  a  factor  of  this  larger  problem. 
In  Belgium,  in  Ireland,  in  the  Balkans,  and  in  Russia 
conditions  are  incomparably  more  acute  than  in  the 
South. 

In  some  ways,  however,  the  American  situation  is 
without  precedent  or  parallel.  Slavery  is  common 
enough  in  human  history  and  even  among  animals.19 
But  the  slave  has  either  been  subdued  and  oppressed 
in  his  native  habitat  or  been  carried  to  the  master's 
native  habitat.  Never  have  both  master  and  slave  been 
permanently  expatriated  as  in  America.  That  they 
gradually  became  acclimated  together  accounts  for 
the  strange  miracle  of  friendship  between  master  and 
slave.  Common  dangers  and  hardships  overcame 
mutual  antagonisms  and  mistrusts.  Common  experi 
ences  bind  men  more  closely  than  blood. 19a  Not  only 

19  Darwin,  "Origin  of  Species,"  ch.  viii,  "Slave-making  Instinct." 
19aSome  years  ago  when  the  actual  participants  in  the  great  Civil 
War  were  numerous  and  active  in  public  affairs,  a  forlorn  and  battered 
specimen  of  the  genus  homo  sapiens  Africanus  was  haled  into  a  Texas 
court  charged  with  hog-stealing.  The  prisoner's  wrinkled  face  and 
withered  limbs  showed  plainly  the  many  hardships  he  had  passed,  while 
his  tattered  raiment  told  the  tale  of  his  poverty. 

The  prisoner  was  arraigned  without  any  evidence  of  emotion  or  sym 
pathy  on  the  part  of  the  court  officials  or  spectators,  except  the  passing 
comment  at  the  prisoner's  apparent  indifference  to  the  proceedings.  The 
prosecution  stated  its  case.  A  perfunctory  defense,  in  which  the  pris 
oner  took  neither  part  nor  interest,  was  conducted  by  a  court-appointed 
lawyer.  The  judge  delivered  his  charge  and  the  jury  retired.  The 


188  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

did  the  white  man  and  the  black  man  unite  to  fight  the 
Indian,  but  also  to  fight  the  European.  The  first  vic 
tim  of  the  Revolutionary  War  was  Crispus  Attucks, 
a  Negro.  With  Perry  on  Lake  Erie  and  Jackson 
at  New  Orleans,  the  white  men  and  the  black  men 
fought,  side  by  side,  an  European  government.  At 


prisoner,  dazed  and  listless,  awaited  the  fate  that,  except  for  an  em 
phatic  "Not  guilty,"  he  had  done  nothing  to  avert.  His  revery  was 
broken  by  the  verdict  of  the  jury:  "We  find  the  defendant  guilty  and 
assess  his  punishment  at  two  years  in  the  penitentiary."  The  old  man's 
eyes  dilated  in  astonishment. 

"Prisoner  at  the  bar,  stand  up,"  formally  commanded  the  judge. 
The  old  man  shuffled  to  his  feet.  Was  it  a  court  formality  or  a  touch 
of  sympathy,  that  led  the  judge  to  ask  the  delapidated  and  now  thor 
oughly  alarmed  prisoner: — 

"Prisoner  at  the  bar,  have  you  anything  to  say?" 

The  silence  following  the  judge's  question  was  immediately  broken 
by  an  earnest  "Yes  sah!"  from  the  prisoner,  who  then  began  a  speech 
that  at  once  gripped  court  and  audience.  On  and  on  he  went,  the  court 
room  filled  amid  profound  silence  except  for  the  broken  voice  of  the 
prisoner.  He  was  telling  the  story  of  his  life.  In  graphic  and  pictur 
esque  language  he  described  the  childhood  gambols  of  "young  Marse 
Bill,"  how  he  had  attended  him  through  his  schoolboy  days  to  young 
manhood,  how  he  had  gone  with  him  as  a  body  servant  into  the  war, 
how  he  had  travelled  on  foot  two  hundred  miles  to  tell  "ole  Miss"  that 
"Marse  Bill"  was  not  dead  as  reported,  but  the  yankees  had  him.  How 
when  "Marse  Bill"  was  sick  and  wounded  he  had  carried  him  to  a 
place  of  safety  and  "foraged"  a  pig  for  his  nourishment.  After  the 
war  he  had  lost  track  of  his  "white  folks,"  but  on  coming  into  court  had 
recognized  the  judge  as  "Marse  Bill" :  had  thought  surely  "Marse  Bill" 
remembered  "Joe"  and  would  see  that  he  got  "justice."  If  it  was  right 
to  "take"  a  pig  to  keep  "young  Marse"  from  starving,  how  was  it 
wrong  to  take  one  to  keep  his  wife  and  children  from  starving?"  The 
last  words  of  the  speaker,  an  appealing  question  to  the  judge,  rang 
through  the  silent  courtroom  as  the  old  man  dropped  exhausted  into 
his  seat: — 

"If  it  was  foraging  then,  how  come  it  stealing  now?" 

No  oration  pronounced  in  the  English  language  ever  went  straighter 
to  the  heart  of  an  audience  than  the  simple  tale  of  this  unfortunate 
prisoner.  He  had  struck  a  responsive  chord  in  every  heart.  Tears 
glistened  in  the  eyes  of  more  than  one  grizzled  old  warrior  of  the 
"Lost  Cause."  Amid  the  profound  silence  that  followed  the  old  man's 
speech,  which  no  one  had  thought  of  interrupting,  the  judge  said  to  the 
clerk,  "The  prisoner's  motion  for  a  new  trial  has  been  granted  and  he 
is  discharged  on  his  own  recognizance."  Then  addressing  the  prose 
cutor,  "Colonel,"  he  said,  "you'll  have  to  get  you  another  pig." 

"He  can  have  the  rest  of  the  litter,"  said  the  colonel,  as  much  moved 
as  the  judge. 

The  spell  was  broken.  With  enthusiastic  approval  of  everybody,  the 
judge  bade  the  prisoner  "come  home  (the  judge's  house)  and  get  food 
and  clothes." 

Joe's  remaining  days  were  spent  in  peace  and  comfort.  His  soldierly 
conduct  in  war  had  made  the  survivors,  regardless  of  race,  his  friends. 


The  Negro  and  Progress  in  the  South.          189 

El  Caney  and  San  Juan  the  same  thing  happened — and 
should  a  foreign  foe  invade  our  soil  tomorrow,  history 
would  repeat  itself. 

Mr.  Isaac  Fisher,  a  full-blooded  Afro-American 
says :  "Looking  backward — away  back  to  the  spot  on 
Boston  Commons,  where  a  Negro — Crispus  Attucks — 
was  the  earliest  to  shed  his  blood  for  American  liberty, 
I  get  a  point  from  which  to  count  the  black  patriots 
slain.  I  see  5000  Negroes  'dead  on  the  field  of  honor' 
in  the  Revolutionary  War ;  I  hear  General  Jackson  say 
to  the  black  boys  in  blue  in  1812,  'I  expected  much 
from  you.  .  .  .  But  you  have  surpassed  all  my 
hopes/  I  see  a  list  of  sable  heroes  marching  against 
Mexico;  and  later,  when,  amid  the  shot  and  shell  and 
carnage  and  ruin  and  misery  of  the  terrible  Civil  War, 
God  purged  the  nation  of  slavery,  I  see  them  still — 
black  men,  with  hearts  that  did  not  quail,  striving  to 
defend  this  Union  which  had  given  them,  in  fullest 
measure,  nothing  but  the  gall  and  wormwood  of 
physical  chains.  And  then,  later  still,  in  Cuba,  at  San 
tiago,  and  charging  up  the  heights  of  San  Juan  Hill, 
I  see  them  marching,  marching,  marching,  while  the 
band  played,  'There'll  be  a  Hot  Time  in  the  Old  Town 
Tonight/  and  the  world  applauded  their  valor. 

"And  when  I  turn  to  history  and  ask  if  the  black 
boys — yes,  if  my  race — have  ever  sulked  in  their  tents 
when  the  country  called  them,  and  there  is  but  one 
answer :  'They  have  ever  been  ready  to  die  in  defense 
of  the  Stars  and  Stripes/ 

"So  far,  the  Negro's  record  as  a  patriot,  as  one 
who  will  lay  down  his  life  for  this  country,  is  clean! 

"The  Negro  .  .  .  has  been  charged  with 
many  crimes.  .  .  .  But,  blessed  be  our  Father, 
the  Negro  has  not  yet  been  called  a  man  afraid  and 
unwilling  to  die  for  his  country.  . 

"I  am  opposed  to  wars  and  bloodshed.    I  hope  that 


190  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

the  American  sword  has  been  drawn  for  the  last  time ; 
but  if  this  is  not  to  be,  I  want  my  race  to  have  part  in 
any  struggles  which  are  for  the  national  good.  .  .  . 

"America  is  the  land  of  our  birth — she  must  have 
our  loyalty.  .  .  .  We  defend  her  flag,  not  for 
the  crimes  against  us  which  it  shelters  and  protects, 
but  for  the  best  in  our  government  of  which  it  is  a 
sign." 

All  other  colored  peoples  in  all  other  countries 
have,  as  a  class,  hated  and  fought  and  died  in  the 
presence  of  the  white  man.  But  the  Afro-American 
has  actually  fallen  in  love  with  the  white  man  and  has 
waxed  and  grown  fat  and  increased  and  multiplied  in 
his  presence.  Stranger  still !  The  white  man,  the  real 
Southern  white  man,  fell  in  love  with  the  Negro — the 
real  manhood  in  ebony — not  the  mulatto,  nor  any  kind 
of  "oon"  but  black. 

In  the  year  of  grace  1915  I  saw  the  Legislature20 
of  a  Southern  State  accept  the  hospitality  of  a  Negro 
school.  I  saw  them  make  a  minute  and  critical  ex 
amination  of  the  grounds,  buildings,  students,  and 
teachers.  I  saw  them  file  into  the  dining-room  and 
enjoy  a  dinner  cooked  and  served  by  teachers  and 
students  to  the  inimitable  harmony  of  Negro  music. 
I  saw  them  enter  the  chapel,  more  than  a  quorum  of 
both  houses,  and  listen  to  a  brief  program  of  music 
and  recitation  by  the  school,  after  which  the  principal 
turned  things  over  to  the  visitors.  I  heard  their 
speeches ;  sometimes  witty,  sometimes  wise,  and  some 
times  hortatory,  sometimes  pathetic,  but  always  sin 
cere  ;  and  at  times  tenderly  compassionate  and  reveren 
tial  as  the  memory  of  "Aunt  Susan,"  "Aunt  Rachel," 
or  "Aunt  Liza"  welled  into  consciousness.  Pledges 
of  sympathy  and  support  were  given,  amid  praises  for 
duty  well  done  to  faculty  and  students. 

20  See  cut  of  Legislature. 


The  Negro  and  Progress  in  the  South.          191 

This  splendid  program  of  reminiscence,  sympathy, 
and  helpfulness  formally  closed  with  a  speech,  of  rare 
eloquence  and  beauty,  but  full  of  sound  and  much 
appreciated  advice  to  the  colored  people.  The  final 
words  of  the  speaker  fell  like  a  benediction  upon  the 
grateful  teachers  and  students,  many  of  whom  were 
personally  known  to  individual  legislators.  The 
speaker  was  a  Georgian  and  quoted  Henry  W.  Grady : 
"If  I  forget  these  people,  may  an  infinite  God  forget 


me." 


I  said,  "This  is  neither  ethnology,  anthropology, 
nor  evolution,  but  humanity."  Herein  hath  man  "pre 
eminence  above  a  beast." 

Strange  miracle  of  the  centuries,  the  love  that 
grew  up  in  America  between  the  exiled  children  of 
Europe  and  Africa — a  love  without  a  parallel  in  the 
annals  of  the  world — a  love  that  constrained  rugged 
old  Senator  Tilman  to  say  he  would  give  his  life  in 
defense  of  some  negroes  he  knew — a  love  that  moved 
the  Confederate  soldiers  to  propose  a  monument  to 
Negro  fidelity  in  the  "days  that  tried  men's  souls," — a 
love  that  will  yet  find  a  way  for  these  people  to  live  in 
helpful,  hopeful  peace,  though  ethnically  separate, 
yet  geographically  one — "races  to  whom  coexistence 
seems  imperative,  but  between  whom  coalescence 
would  be  intolerable." 

"Culture  is  everybody's  creed  and  democracy  is 
everybody's  chance  to  put  the  creed  to  work."  Re 
ligion  is  the  melting-pot  of  passions — the  only  alembic 
that  can  transmute  the  antagonisms  of  the  races  into 
co-operation,  while  preserving  their  integrity  and  self- 
respect.  In  this  country  Euro-Americans  and  Afro- 
Americans  have  a  common  language,  a  common 
religion,  a  common  country,  and  a  common  destiny. 

"The  formative  assumptions,  the  ultimate  dogmas 
of  a  civilization  are  to  be  determined,  however,  not 


192  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

from  the  failures  of  the  few,  but  from  the  conceptions, 
the  laws,  the  habits  of  the  many."21 

The  vast  majority  in  both  races  in  the  South  are 
deeply  religious.  "Where  difficulties  are  so  great, 
none  but  the  great  and  elemental  human  forces  will 
prevail.  It  is,  therefore,  of  deep  and  hopeful  signifi 
cance  that  the  power  and  influence  of  religious  insti 
tutions  are  so  general.  As  these  come  to  deal  more 
definitely  and  explicitly  with  the  phases  of  social  need, 
there  will  enter  into  social  enthusiasms  a  high  and 
serious  confidence,  a  touch  of  authority,  and  yet  a 
touch  of  tenderness  which  will  draw  the  world  to  the 
Church  while  it  draws  the  Church  to  the  quickening 
and  freeing  of  the  world."22 

Herein  is  our  assurance  of  peace  and  co-operation. 
It  is  so  significant  that  "where  we  find  the  Negro  in 
relation  to  the  trained  and  educated  representatives  of 
the  stronger  race,  we  find  few  of  the  evidences  of  racial 
friction." 

A  sound  heart  and  a  clear  head  mean  the  same 
thing  to  races  as  to  individuals, — peace  with  yourself, 
peace  with  your  neighbor,  and  prosperity  for  both. 

The  following  incident  shows  the  unifying  power 
of  religious  sentiment  over  the  warring  elements  of 
races  speaking  a  common  tongue : — 

"THE  HOLY  CITY." 

"Thirty  men,  red-eyed  and  disheveled,  lined  up  be 
fore  a  judge  of  a  San  Francisco  police  court.  It  was 
the  regular  morning  company  of  'drunks  and  dis 
orderlies.'  Some  were  old  and  hardened,  others  hung 
their  heads  in  shame.  Just  as  the  momentary  disorder 
attending  the  bringing  in  of  the  prisoners  quieted 


.  21  Murphy,  "The  Present  South,"  page  272. 
22  Ibid. 


The  Negro  and  Progress  in  the  South.          193 

down,  a  strange  thing  happened.  A  strong,  clear 
voice  from  below  began  singing: — 

'Last  night  I  lay  a-sleeping, 
There  came  a  dream  so  fair.' 

"Last  night!  It  had  been  for  them  all  a  night 
mare  or  a  drunken  stupor.  The  song  was  such  a  con 
trast  to  the  horrible  fact  that  no  one  could  fail  of  a 
sudden  shock  at  the  thought  the  song  suggested. 

'I  stood  in  old  Jerusalem, 
Beside  the  temple  there/ 

the  song  went  on.  The  judge  had  paused.  He  made 
a  quiet  inquiry.  A  former  member  of  a  famous  opera 
company,  known  all  over  the  country,  was  awaiting 
trial  for  forgery.  It  was  he  who  was  singing  in  his 
cell. 

"Meantime  the  song  went  on  and  every  man  in  the 
line  showed  emotion.  One  or  two  dropped  on  their 
knees ;  one  boy  at  the  end  of  the  line,  after  a  desperate 
effort  at  self-control,  leaned  against  the  wall,  buried 
his  face  against  his  folded  arms,  and  sobbed,  'O 
mother,  mother !' 

"The  sobs  cutting  to  the  very  heart  of  the  men  who 
heard,  and  the  song,  still  welling  its  way  through  the 
courtroom,  blended  in  the  hush.  At  length  one  man 
protested : — 

'  'Judge/  said  he,  'have  we  got  to  submit  to  this? 
We're  here  to  take  our  punishment,  but  this — '  He, 
too,  began  to  sob. 

"It  was  impossible  to  proceed  with  the  business  of 
the  court,  yet  the  judge  gave  no  order  to  stop  the  song. 
The  police-sergeant,  after  a  surprised  effort  to  keep 


13 


194  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

the  men  in  line,  stepped  back  and  waited  with  the  rest. 
The  song  moved  on  to  its  climax : — 

'Jerusalem !    Jerusalem !    Sing,  for  the  night  is  o'er ! 
Hosanna  in  the  highest !     Hosanna  forevermore  !' 

"In  an  ecstasy  of  melody  the  last  words  rang  out, 
and  then  there  was  silence. 

"The  judge  looked  into  the  faces  of  the  men  before 
him.  There  was  not  one  who  was  not  touched  by  the 
song;  not  one  in  whom  some  better  impulse  was  not 
stirred.  He  did  not  call  the  cases  singly — a  kind  word 
of  advice,  and  he  dismissed  them  all.  No  man  was 
fined  or  sentenced  to  the  workhouse  that  morning. 
The  song  had  done  more  good  than  punishment  could 
have  accomplished." 

Civilization  is  the  altruistic  fruition  of  the  ages 
and  rests  upon  man's  unselfish  service  to  man.  Every 
one  who  does  a  kind  deed  is  a  contributor,  from  the 
humble  slave  that  did  his  duty  in  the  dim  and  distant 
past  to  the  brilliant  inventor  of  today;  and  while  it  is 
the  patrimony  of  mankind,  the  white  man  is  the  pres 
ent  administrator.  He  must,  however,  deal  fairly  with 
all  the  heirs  or  vacate  his  office ;  for  civilization  is  the 
product  of  no  particular  breed  of  men  and  is  therefore 
the  heritage  of  all.  Universality  will  mean  perpetua 
tion.  World-wide  peace  can  only  come  with  world 
wide  democracy. 

There  is  no  middle  ground  for  the  Negro.  He 
must  go  up  to  a  citizen  or  down  to  a  serf.  He  is  not 
going  to  die  out.  The  Negro  preacher  and  the  Negro 
teacher  stand  at  the  moral  gate  to  keep  the  race  back 
from  fatal  corruption;  the  Negro  doctor  is  keeping 
the  pass  against  disease,  and  the  hosts  of  civilization 
are  camped  round  and  about. 

The  Negro  is  not  going  to  leave  here  for  two 


The  Negro  and  Progress  in  the  South.          195 

reasons :  In  the  first  place  this  is  his  home,  and  in  the 
second  place  there  is  nowhere  to  go.  He  is  not  going 
back  to  Africa  any  more  than  the  white  man  is  going 
back  to  Europe  or  the  Jew  is  going  back  to  Palestine. 
Palestine  may  be  rehabilitated  and  Europe  be  Ameri 
canized,  but  the  Jew  will  not  lose  his  world-wide 
citizenship,  nor  America  fail  of  her  geographical  des 
tination  as  the  garden-spot  of  the  world.  The  Negro 
will  do  his  part  to  carry  the  light  of  civilization  to  the 
dark  corners  of  the  world — especially  to  Africa ;  dark, 
mysterious,  inscrutable  Africa;  the  puzzle  of  the  past 
and  the  riddle  of  the  future ;  the  imperturbable  mother 
of  civilizations  and  peoples. 

The  slave-trade  was  the  diaspora  of  the  African, 
and  the  children  of  this  alienation  have  become  a  per 
manent  part  of  the  citizenry  of  the  American  republic. 
Fate  holds  the  welfare  of  America  as  hostage  to  insure 
final  justice  and  fair  play  to  all  citizens,  regardless  of 
color,  creed,  or  sex. 

"A  culture  that  long  ignores  its  own  context  will 
not  be  taken  seriously  even  by  itself."23 

The  spirit  that  enables  the  white  man  to  modestly 
write  himself  down  as  belonging  to  "the  most  potent 
race  the  world  has  known/'24  finds  no  difficulty  in 
accepting  as  a  fundamental  principle  of  race  adjust 
ment  "the  absolute  and  unchangeable  superiority  of 
the  white  race." 

Fundamentally  erroneous  and  mischievous  as  I 
believe  this  assumption  to  be,  I  am  not  disposed  to 
quarrel  over  it  with  such  men  as  Messrs.  Page  and 
Murphy.  We  believe  in  the  same  thing  for  different 
reasons  and  can  easily  act  in  harmony. 

Mr.  Page  says:    "The  Negroes  will  always  have 


23  Murphy,  "The  Present  South." 

24  Thos.  N.  Page,  "The  Negro,"  page  204. 


196  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

their  leaders,  and  it  is  better  to  have  enlightened  lead 
ers  than  ignorant,  . 

"The  alleged  danger  of  the  educated  Negro  becom 
ing  a  greater  menace  to  the  white  than  the  uneducated 
is  a  bugaboo  which  will  not  stand  the  test  of  light." 

And  again :  "In  the  first  place,  it  seems  to  me  that 
our  plain  duty  is  to  do  the  best  we  can  to  act  with 
justice  and  a  broad  charity  and  leave  the  consequences 
to  God." 

My  experience  is  exactly  like  Mr.  Page's:  "When 
the  writer  first  began  to  study  the  conditions  of  the 
race  problem  they  appeared  to  be  most  disheartening. 
As,  however,  he  surveyed  the  entire  field,  he  has 
become  more  hopeful,  and  certainly  more  firm  in  his 
convictions  as  to  a  few  principles." 

My  guiding  principles  on  this  question  are  six: — 

1.  Mankind  is  one  in  blood  and  capable  alike  of  the 
same  vices  and  the  same  virtues.     It  is  a  matter  of 
topography  and  temperature. 

2.  Races,  like  individuals,  are  prone  to  prate  of 
their  own  virtues  and  enlarge  upon  their  neighbors' 
vices. 

3.  The  reverse  process  would  eliminate  most  of 
their  marginal  troubles ;  nanjely,  study  to  correct  their 
own  vices  and  to  find  out  the  others'  virtues. 

4.  Misunderstanding,  rather  than  meanness,  makes 
them  unjust  to  each  other. 

5.  There  is  but  one  proposition  in  human  reason 
that  is  settled  "ultimately  and  fundamentally,"  namely, 
man  has  never  yet  settled  anything  that  way.    It  is  not 
wise  to  try  to  look  too  far  ahead.    The  cryptograms  of 
the  book  of  destiny  have  not  yet  been  opened  to  man's 
inspection.      Ultimate   problems   are    as    inscrutable 
today  as  of  old. 


Successful  men  in  various  lines  of  endeavor. 


The  Negro  and  Progress  in  the  South.          197 

6.  I  have  accepted  as  sound  the  conclusions  of  the 
Greeks :  "These  things  are  not  of  today  nor  yesterday, 
but  evermore,  and  no  man  knoweth  whence  they  came. 

"The  ways  of  His  thoughts  are  as  paths  in  a  wood 
thick  with  leaves,  and  one  seeth  through  them  but  a 
little  way." 

Knowledge  is  harmonious  and  truth  is  a  unity. 
Any  subject  pursued  far  enough  and  understood  well 
enough  will  liberalize  the  mind  and  humble  the  spirit, 
making  us  charitable  and  patient.  From  different 
starting  points  Mr.  Page  and  I  reach  the  same  con 
clusion.  "Our  plain  duty  is  to  do  the  best  we  can  to 
act  with  justice  and  a  broad  charity  and  leave  the  con 
sequences  to  God." 

The  presence  of  the  Negro  is  not  a  menace  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  South. 


"The  absolute  supremacy  of  intelligence  and  property, 
secured  through  a  suffrage  test  that  shall  be  evenly  and 
equally  applicable  in  theory  -and  in  fact  to  white  and  black — 
this  will  be  the  ultimate  solution  of  the  South  for  the  whole 
vexed  question  of  political  privilege." — MURPHY. 

"The  cultured  class  of  white  society  in  the  South,  as  a 
rule,  comes  in  contact  only  with  the  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water  of  the  Negro  race,  and  are  prone  to  judge 
the  rest  by  what  it  sees.  A  great  mistake.  There  is  a  large 
and  growing  cultured  class  of  Negroes  in  the  South,  which 
can  mingle  only  with  itself.  When  the  strength  of  these 
cultured  classes — living  in  the  same  section,  but  separate  and 
distinct,  and  ignorant  of  each  other — become  more  equal,  as 
it  surely  will  in  the  future  under  the  present  specially  fine 
educational  advantages  now  being  engaged  by  the  Negro,  what 
is  going  to  be  the  effect  ?  I  believe  that,  in  time,  we  will  have 
in  the  South  two  almost  universally  cultured  races.  That  is 
the  trend." — SMITH  CLAYTON,  Atlanta,  Ga. 


(198) 


CHAPTER  IX. 

WHAT  THE  NEGRO  MAY  REASONABLY 
EXPECT  OF  THE  WHITE  MAN.* 

LIBERTY  has  ever  been  the  dream  of  man — the 
theme  of  philosophy,  the  ideal  of  poetry,  the  goal  of 
statesmanship.  It  has  enhanced  the  dreams  of  the 
great  and  powerful  as  well  as  the  poor  and  oppressed. 

Slaves  in  their  chains  have  cried  for  it, 
Kings  on  their  thrones  have  sighed  for  it, 
And  soldiers  on  gory  fields  have  died  for  it; 
Yet  the  world  knows  it  not. 

"Liberte,  egalite,  fraternite"  (liberty,  equality, 
fraternity),  is  written  in  the  blood  of  Frenchmen,  and 
yet  France  is  not  free.  "Fiat  justitia  ruat  coelum" 
was  a  motto  of  ancient  Rome,  but  justice  came  not; 
neither  did  the  heavens  fall,  but  Rome  did. 

"In  the  beauty  of  the  lilies, 
Christ  was  born  across  the  sea, 

With  a  glory  in  his  bosom 

That  transfigures  you  and  me. 

As  he  died  to  make  men  holy, 
Let  us  die  to  make  men  free." 

So  sang  the  Union  soldiers  in  the  bloody  days  of 
the  sixties.  But,  alas !  where  is  the  freedom  for  which 
they  died? 

The  glory  that  was  Greece,  and  the  grandeur  that 


1  The  substance  of  this  chapter  formed  an  address  at  the  Semi-cen 
tennial  Emancipation  Celebration,  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  Sept.  17,  1913. 

(199) 


200  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

was  Rome,  alike  passed  away  in  a  maddening  wail  for 
liberty.  Rivers  of  blood  have  not  been  sufficient  to 
bear  Irish  citizenship  to  that  desired  goal.  Labor  lead 
ers  seeking  it  travel  like  one  lost  in  a  wilderness — 
moving  in  a  circle  and  coming  ever  to  the  same  point. 

Why  has  man's  quest  for  liberty  ever  been  a  fool's 
errand?  Is  human  liberty  like  the  bag  of  gold  at  the 
end  of  the  rainbow?  A  barren  and  unattainable 
ideality  to  lure  the  foolish  and  amuse  the  wise? 

On  the  contrary,  liberty  is  within  easy  reach  of 
mankind,  but  the  conditions  upon  which  she  will  abide 
with  an  individual  or  nation  are  fixed  and  unalterable. 
She  cannot  be  induced  to  tarry  unless  these  conditions 
are  met. 

Man's  unwillingness  to  be  just  is  the  explanation 
of  his  failure  to  obtain  justice.  Liberty  is  a  sun  that 
shines  for  all  or  shines  for  none.  The  white  people  in 
the  United  States  of  America  will  never  enjoy  liberty 
and  justice  until  they  are  willing  to  concede  liberty  and 
justice  to  all. 

In  the  face  of  this  eternal  truth,  written  with  blood 
in  the  annals  of  time,  why  do  men  seek  justice  by  in 
direction,  and  liberty  by  oppression?  What  men 
expect  of  each  other  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  tragedy. 


I. 

The  Negro  expects  the  white  man  to  make  good  as 
a  civilized  man — to  materialise  into  tangible  objectiv 
ity  the  ideals  of  human  brotherhood.  The  white  man 
has  not  done  this,  though  he  has  made  some  progress 
in  the  past  fifty  years. 

In  July,  1863,  the  Boston  Courier  said:  "As  no 
white  man  ought  to  consent  to  be  a  slave,  so,  in  our 
opinion,  no  Negro  ought  to  desire  to  be  a  free  man  in 


Twentieth-century  civilization.    ("Causes  and  Cures  of  Crime,"  Mosby.) 


What   the  Negro   May  Expect.  201 

the  United  States.  Freedom  to  them  can  have  no 
other  meaning  than  misery,  degradation,  and  final 
extermination."  (See  Independent,  July  24,  1913, 
P-  225.) 

In  July,  1913,  Dr.  Elliott  said:  "We  may  reason 
ably  hope,  therefore,  that  the  moral  atmosphere  in 
which  the  political  and  industrial  struggle  of  the 
colored  race  is  to  be  conducted  during  the  next  fifty 
years  will  be  more  favorable  than  it  has  been  during 
the  past  fifty.  The  policies  which  the  race  should  fol 
low,  and  all  its  leaders  should  incessantly  urge,  are  the 
acquisition  of  private  property  by  the  individual;  the 
accumulation  of  capital  in  the  hands  of  the  race  as  a 
result -of  industry  and  frugality;  the  education  of  all 
its  children  far  beyond  the  narrow  limitations  im 
posed  by  present  State  legislation;  the  preparation  of 
colored  men  for  all  the  learned  and  scientific  profes 
sions  in  order  that  the  race  may  be  independent  as 
regards  the  possessions  of  all  safeguards  of  society 
against  physical  and  moral  evils,  and  of  all  the  means 
of  intellectual  and  moral  progress.  .  .  If  in 

another  fifty  years  these  liberties  shall  have  been  won, 
the  Americans  of  African  descent  will  have  passed 
from  slavery  to  freedom  more  quickly  than  any  white 
race  has  ever  done,  and  with  much  less  suffering  by 
the  way."  (Chas.  W.  Elliott,  Pres.  Em.  Harvard 
Univ.;  see  A.  M.  E.  Review,  July,  1913.) 

But  all  white  men  have  not  made  the  advance  here 
indicated.  Witness  this  extract  from  a  governor's 
message  in  1913:  "I  warn  you  today,  passing  as  I 
am  rapidly  from  State  politics,  that  if  I  go  higher  it 
will  be  to  a  broader  and  national  field,  where  I  will 
fight  the  education  of  the  Negro.  God  Almighty  never 
intended  that  he  should  be  educated,  and  the  man  who 
attempts  to  do  what  God  Almighty  never  intended  will 
be  a  failure.  God  made  that  man  to  be  your  servant. 


202  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

The  Negro  was  meant  to  be  a  hewer  of  wood  and  a 
drawer  of  water.  If  God  had  intended  him  to  be  your 
equal,  he  would  have  made  him  white  and  put  a  bone 
in  his  nose."2 

Over  against  this  ignorant  and  brazen  attempt  to 
read  the  Book  of  Fate  and  interpret  the  ways  of  the 
Almighty,  I  set  the  words  of  the  pious  revelator,  St. 
John,  the  Divine:  "And  I  saw  a  strong  angel  pro 
claiming  with  a  loud  voice,  Who  is  worthy  to  open  the 
book,  and  to  loose  the  seals  thereof  ? 

"And  no  man  in  heaven,  nor  in  earth,  neither 
under  the  earth,  was  able  to  open  the  book,  neither 
to  look  therein."  (Rev.  5 :  2,  3.) 

Who  can  penetrate  the  Arcana  of  God  and  read 
the  cryptograms  of  the  Book  of  Destiny?  God  is 
His  own  interpreter.  Not  even  the  angels  of  glory 
are  considered  worthy  to  open  the  Book  of  Fate;  but 
there  is  a  class  of  men  who  "rush  in  where  angels  fear 
to  tread."  The  Negro  expects  the  white  man  to  reach 
a  stage  of  civilization  when  that  type  of  men  will  not 
be  leaders. 

"The  God  who  knows  our  wrongs  seems — and  but 
seems — to  have  abandoned  us." 

But  the  white  man  hopes  to  make  still  more 
progress. 

Rev.  Henry  Stiles  Bradley  expects  flying  machines 
to  establish  peace;  humanitarianism  to  make  human 
brotherhood  a  living  actuality,  and  eugenics  to  bring 
universal  health.3 

Truly  a  great  vision !  Somewhat  in  advance  of  re 
pealing  the  Fifteenth  Amendment!  The  two  things 
are  incompatible. 


2  Subsequent  events  proved  this  gentleman  as  short  on  prophecy  as 
he  was  on  human  anatomy.    He  "passed  from  State  politics/'  but  not 

to  "the  broader  national  field." 

3  At  Southern  Sociological  Congress,  Atlanta,  Ga.,  Apr.,  1913. 


What  the  Negro   May  Expect.  203 

He  also  places  mastering  your  neighbor  in  the  first 
or  lowest  stage  of  civilization. 

The  Negro  is  willing  to  rest  his  case  in  the  court 
of  civilisation,  and  expects  the  white  man  to  be  influ 
enced  by  the  ideals  of  civilization's  choicest  spirits, 
such  as  Dr.  Elliott  and  Dr.  Bradley. 


II. 

The  Negro  expects  the  white  man  to  preserve  the 
chivalry  of  the  strong. 

In  the  fifth  canto  of  the  "Lady  of  the  Lake,"  Scott 
describes  a  scene  between  Roderick  Dhu,  an  outlawed 
highland  chieftain,  and  Fitz  James,  the  King  of  Scot 
land,  incognito,  where  each  refused  to  take  advantage 
of  the,  other.  After  calling  up  his  army  to  suddenly 
confront  the  boasting  Fitz  James,  the  chief  dismissed 
them  and  said : — 

"Fear  naught — nay,  that  I  need  not  say — 
But — doubt  not  aught  from  mine  array. 
Thou  art  my  guest; — I  pledged  my  word 
As  far  as  Coilantogle  Ford! 

"Nor  would  I  call  a  clansman's  brand 
For  aid  against  one  valiant  hand, 
Though  on  our  strife  lay  every  vale 
Rent  by  the  Saxon  from  the  Gael." 

When  they  reached  Coilantogle  Ford,  "Far  past 
Clan  Alpine's  outmost  guard,"  the  irate  chieftain  pro 
posed  a  duel,  throwing  down  his  shield  because  Fitz 
James  had  none.  Fitz  James  was  now  within  calling 
of  his  retinue,  but  refused  to  wind  his  horn,  and, 
single-handed,  closed  in  mortal  combat  with  this  chiv 
alrous  but  vengeful  and  powerful  chief.  Thus — 


204  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

"Shine  Martial  faith  and  Courtesy's  bright  star,     .      .      . 
Through  all  the  wreckful  storms  that  cloud  the  brow  of  war." 

The  strong  man  demands  only  a  square  deal  and 
willingly  concedes  to  others  the  same  thing.  On  this 
principle,  the  Negro  expects  of  the  white  man  a  man's 
chance  to  be  a  man. 

"Ill  fares  the  land,  to  hastening  ills  a  prey, 
Where  wealth  accumulates  and  men  decay." 

Is  the  United  States  a  decadent  nation?  Has 
gangrene  set  up  in  the  body  politic? 

The  keynote  to  an  ideal  man's  character  is  courage. 
Neither  virtue  nor  wisdom  is  of  much  avail  without 
this  fundamental  quality.  Wealth,  position,  power, 
and  opportunity  are  all  naught  unless  courage  is 
present.  Cowardice  is  the  most  fatal  defect  of  human 
character  and  is  a  presage  of  disaster.  Success, 
whether  individual,  communal,  or  national,  cannot  live 
in  the  absence  of  courage.  So  true  is  this  that,  in  our 
language,  courage  and  manhood  are  synonymous. 

"Peace  hath  higher  tests  of  manhood, 
Than  battles  ever  knew," 

sings  the  Poet,  Whittier.  Habits  may  change  the 
qualities  of  character,  and  nations  may  lose  the  charac 
teristics  that  made  them  great.  Sin  is  a  reproach  to  a 
people  and  vice  may  ruin  a  state. 

One  of  the  chief  characteristics  of  true  bravery  is 
a  love  of  fair  play.  When  courage  hesitates  to  give 
opponents  a  fair  chance,  deterioration  has  set  in. 
Cruelty  and  oppression  as  national  traits  are  sure 
precursors  of  national  decay. 

The  latest  phases  of  the  lynching  evil  in  the  United 
States  seriously  raise  the  question  of  manhood  de- 


What  the  Negro   May  Expect.  205 

terioration  in  this  country.  It  is  the  note  of  decadence 
in  the  oratorio  of  American  progress.  Patients  are 
dragged  from  hospitals  and  tortured  to  death  as  a 
Sunday  evening's  amusement.  Innocent  women  and 
even  little  children  are  murdered  in  noon  daytime. 
Manacled  prisoners  are  assaulted  and  murdered  in  the 
temples  of  justice.  Has  the  white  man  reached  his 
zenith  and  retrogression  set  in?  Has  the  gift  of 
wealth  destroyed  alike  his  heart  and  his  brain?  Has 
the  battle  for  justice  and  freedom  been  lost  in  the 
Western  World? 

The  Memphis  Commercial  Appeal  said  recently: 
"When  the  Negro  enters  into  the  contest  with  the 
white  man  he  is  already  at  a  disadvantage,  and  there 
fore  the  truly  brave  white  man  never  seeks  a  quarrel 
with  Negroes.  He  knows  that  the  Negro  is  at  a  dis 
advantage  and  he  does  not  want  to  take  advantage  ol 
him. 

"Furthermore,  the  white  man  of  courage  can  al 
most  always  control  the  Negro  without  being  com 
pelled  to  resort  to  violence."4 


III. 

The  Negro  expects  the  white  man's  sympathy 
rather  than  his  pity. 

Every  man  has  a  right  to  be  graded  according  to 
the  amount  of  manhood  his  character  may  show  when 
assayed  by  the  standards  of  civilization;  or,  as  Maz- 
zini  put  it,  "The  standard  of  civilization  is  the  value  of 
man  as  man."  The  Negro  expects  the  dominating 
spirit  of  this  nation  to  be  democratic  in  this  sense. 
(See  "Who  is  a  Democrat?"  by  Dr.  Dillard,  in  South- 
zvestern  Christian  Advocate,  July  17,  1913.) 

4  Quoted  in  New  York  Age,  Aug.  5,  1913. 


206  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 


IV. 

The  Negro  expects  of  the  white  man  a  reasonable 
measure  of  consistency. 

Currency  reform  and  manhood  degradation  form 
an  incongruous  program  of  "progressiveness." 

Paleontology  has  established  the  fact  that  the 
primitive  man  showed  far  more  skill  in  depicting  ani 
mals  than  in  drawing  human  beings.  In  fact,  "Amid 
the  quaternary  works  of  art,  compared  with  animal 
figures,  human  figures  are  extremely  rare.  Primitive 
artists  evidently  had  no  skill  in  this  direction."  This 
seems  to  be  a  phase  of  a  still  more  general  and  puzzling 
fact;  civilized  man  often  shows  more  interest  in  and 
sympathy  with  the  brute  creation  than  with  humanity. 
The  suffering  of  frogs  in  a  physiological  laboratory 
excites  more  interest  than  the  agony  of  working  girls 
in  a  sweat-shop.  The  imagined  torturing  of  dogs  in 
laboratories  arouses  more  humane  activity  than  the 
actual  torturing  of  men  in  prisons. 

A  striking  illustration  of  this  phase  of  human 
nature  came  under  my  observation  recently  in  a 
Southern  city,  famed  for  culture  and  refinement.  A 
colored  man  was  driving  a  mule.  The  latter  did  not 
do  to  suit  the  former,  whereupon  the  man  began  to 
beat  the  mule.  This  attracted  the  attention  of  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Humane  Society,  who  at  once  protested,  and 
called  a  policeman.  The  muledriver  was  arrested  and 
ordered  to  proceed  immediately  to  the  police-station. 
The  colored  man  did  not  move  fast  enough  for  the 
policeman,  who  at  once  began  to  club  his  prisoner  far 
more  severely  and  with  much  less  excuse  than  the  mule 
was  clubbed.  Humane  Society  interested  itself  to 
protect  the  mule,  but  not  the  man.  The  driver  was 
fined,  but  the  policeman  was  not  even  prosecuted.  The 


What  the  Negro  May  Expect.  207 

Negro  expects  the  white  man  to  give  him  as  much  con 
sideration  as  he  does  a  mule. 

This  inconsistency  sometimes  takes  the  form  of  dis 
honesty  and  cruelty.  Take  the  question  of  separate 
accommodations  for  the  races.  The  laws  declare  or 
presume  equal  accommodations,  and  all  the  arguments 
in  favor  of  these  laws  assume  such  a  condition  as  a 
fact,  whereas  the  opposite  is  true.  With  few  excep 
tions,  separate  accommodations  mean  inferior  accom 
modations.  The  most  diabolical  example  of  this  is  an 
illustration  of  national  greed  rather  than  local  preju 
dice  ;  for  the  ownership  of  the  guilty  railroads  is  by  no 
means  limited  to  the  South.  In  fact,  the  Southern- 
owned  railroads  are  usually  the  least  culpable.  Few 
civilized  men  could  be  found  to  maintain  that  a  Negro 
should  receive  only  10  ounces  of  sugar  for  a  pound, 
while  everybody  else  received  16  ounces  for  the  same 
price.  Yet  this  is  what  the  railroads  do  for  the  colored 
people  every  day  in  the  year.  The  Negro  expects,  and 
has  a  right  to  expect,  the  white  man  to  make  a  change 
in  this  condition. 

V. 

The  Negro  expects  the  zvhite  man  to  concede  him 
the  right  to  stay  on  the  earth.  The  Negro  has  earned 
this  right  by  long  residence. 

The  origin  of  the  Negro  is  as  mystical  as  Sappho's 
leap  from  the  Leucadian  Rock,  and  the  beginning  of 
his  troubles  as  undiscoverable  as  the  name  of  the 
valiant  antedeluvian  who  first  tasted  an  oyster.  Be 
fore  Hercules  set  up  his  pillars  with  his  ne  phis  ultra; 
before  Rameses  conceived  the  pyramids  of  Egypt  or 
the  Collossus  of  Rhodes  fell;  before  Homer  sang  or 
Moses  received  the  Ten  Commandments;  before 
Joseph's  flight  into  Egypt  or  Herod's  slaughter  of  the. 


208  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

innocents ;  before  Leonidas  stood  at  the  Pass  of  Ther 
mopylae  or  Xenophen  led  the  Retreat  of  the  Ten 
Thousand;  before  Confucius  taught  or  Buddha  lived; 
before  the  wise  men  journeyed  from  the  east,  or  the 
Roman  discovered  Britain ;  before  Job  had  his  troubles 
or  Jeremiah  his  lamentations;  before  the  Red  Sea 
parted  or  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell ;  before  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  or  the  Cross  on  Calvary — in  fact,  before 
history  began,  the  Negro  race  was.  And  when 
Macaulay's  South  Sea  Islander  sits  on  the  broken  arch 
of  London  Bridge  to  sketch  the  ruins  of  St.  Paul,  the 
Negro  will  be  there,  as  he  was  with  Columbus,  Balboa, 
and  Perry.  Who  knows  but  that  last  man  so  graphic 
ally  described  by  the  poet  will  be  a  Negro  ? 

Virtues  do  not  change,  but  the  conditions  of  their 
exercise  do.  Hence,  each  generation  needs  its  own 
ethical  interpreters  of  conduct.  I  am  an  American  and 
speak  and  write  as  an  American  to  Americans.  I 
shall,  however,  attempt  to  promulgate  no  new  doc 
trines  nor  establish  any  novel  ethical  standards.  On 
the  contrary,  I  shall  attempt  the  strictest  adherence 
to  the  universal  tenets  of  modern  civilization  and  the 
ethos  of  the  American  people.  But  the  ethos  of  a 
people  is  not  stationary, — knighting  Hawkins  for 
establishing  the  transatlantic  slave-trade  and  immor 
talizing  Lincoln  for  the  Emancipation  Proclamation 
could  hardly  spring  from  the  same  ethical  standards. 

"The  ethos  of  a  people  constitutes  the  universe  of 
their  moral  activities.  The  man  who  conforms  to  the 
morality  of  that  world  is  a  good  man."  In  that  sense 
I  hope  to  be  good  and  strive  to  be  patriotic.  I  seek 
not  revolution,  but  evolution.  I  ask  not  the  white 
man  to  change  his  ideals,  but  to  live  up  to  them. 

I  believe  the  American  people  want  positive  and 
absolute  advancement,  not  negative  and  relative  ad 
vancement  by  holding  somebody  else  back. 


Prominent  colored  Americans. 


What  the  Negro   May  Expect.  209 

The  highest  individual  conduct  is  manifested  when 
reason  controls  personal  action,  and  the  greatest  gen 
eral  good  comes  to  a  people  when  the  brainiest  and 
best  men  control  the  state.  May  God  pity  this  country 
if  certain  ignorant  and  erratic  demagogues,  United 
States  Senators,  or  would-be  senators,  shall  ever  be 
come  truly  representative  of  the  majority  sentiment  of 
the  American  people! 


VI. 

The  Negro  expects  the  white  man  to  cease  parad 
ing  universal  human  frailties  as  peculiar  Negro  vices. 

This  is  a  national  failing  that  is  used  sometimes 
unconsciously  to  increase  race  prejudice.  Suggestion 
has  a  powerful  influence  on  belief  and  conduct.5 

"If  the  many-footed  worm  which  rolls  up  into  a 
ball  when  you  touch  it  is  pricked  with  a  needle,  and 
the  aching  tooth  is  touched  with  the  needle,  the  pain 
will  be  eased." 

Was  this  remedy  for  toothache  proposed  by  an 
African  voodoo?  No,  indeed!  It  is  from  the  "Rose 
Anglica,"  a  book  by  "John  of  Gaddesden  (1280-1361), 
member  of  Merton  College,  Master  of  Arts,  Bachelor 
of  Theology,  and  Doctor  of  Medicine,  Court  Physician 
to  the  King  of  England." 

The  author  modestly  says  of  this  book:  "As  the 
rose  overtops  all  flowers,  so  this  book  overtops  all 
treatises  on  the  practice  of  medicine,  and  it  is  written 
for  both  poor  and  rich,  surgeons  and  physicians,  so 
that  there  shall  be  no  need  for  them  to  be  always  run- 

5  An  auto  accident  was  caused  by  a  boy  running  in  front  of  the 
machine.  The  published  account  emphasized  the  fact  that  it  was  a 
Negro  boy.  The  Hot  Springs  fire  started  in  a  small  dwelling.  The 
published  account  emphasized  the  unimportant  detail  that  it  was  a 
Negro  dwelling.  Mrs.  O'Leary's  race  has  never  been  emphasized  in 
connection  with  the  Chicago  fire. 

14 


210  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

ning  to  consult  other  books,  for  here  they  find  all  about 
curable  disease,  both  from  the  special  and  the  general 
point  of  view." 

The  Negro  is  often  accused  of  ignorance  and 
egotism.  There  are  others. 

A  strange  fact  of  physiological  interest  is  that 
memory  sometimes  becomes  subservient  to  the  imagi 
nation,  the  wish  becomes  father  to  the  thought,  and  a 
man  believes  his  own  lies,  whether  he  is  an  angekok 
(sorcerer)  in  Greenland  or  a  demagogue  in  Missis 
sippi  ;  a  voodoo  in  Nigeria  or  an  office-seeker  in  South 
Carolina,  especially  if  the  doctrine  bring  power  and 
pelf,  is  utility  preferable  to  truth. 

Somebody  has  defined  heaven  as  a  point  of  vantage 
from  which  some  folks  may  enjoy  watching  the  misery 
of  others.  This  is  a  witty  fling  at  a  very  widespread 
human  perversity,  a  perversity  that  receives  the  hell- 
fire  doctrine  with  complacency  among  Christians,  and 
sustains  the  torture  feast  among  savages;  that  made 
the  down-trodden  white  man  and  the  down-trodden 
black  man  hate  each  other  in  ante-bellum  days;  that 
leads  the  poor  white  man  in  the  South  today  to  reward 
with  official  prominence  the  politician  who  promises 
the  most  harm  to  the  colored  people;  that  leads 
Northern  and  Western  Chautauquas  to  pay  Southern 
platform  agitators  to  abuse  the  Negro. 

VII. 

The  Negro  expects  of  the  white  man  a  reasonable 
interpretation  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Governments  derive  their  just  power  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed. 

Equality  of  men  in  reference  to  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness, — the  right  to  live,  labor,  and 
laugh  is  the  heritage  of  all  men. 


What   the  Negro   May  Expect.  211 

Mankind  is  ever  given  to  extremes  in  humanita- 
rianism,  as  in  everything  else.  It  is  either  the  frothy 
sentimentality  that  is  afraid  to  draw  its  breath,  lest 
it  give  pain  to  the  ephemera  of  the  air,  or  the  hard 
hearted  cruelty  that  justifies  the  strong  in  despoiling 
the  weak.  The  square  deal  seems  yet  to  be  a  barren 
ideality  or  a  convenient  party  slogan.  Public  good  is 
inextricably  mixed  with  private  whims.  My  inalien 
able  right  to  bread  is  continually  confused  with  the 
social  privilege  of  my  neighbor's  table.  The  first  is 
the  heritage  of  every  human ;  the  second  is  the  dowry 
of  the  chosen.  To  deny  the  former  to  anyone  is  an 
injury  to  all;  the  latter  may  follow  the  taste  of  an 
individual  or  the  custom  of  the  locality  without  serious 
disturbance  to  the  general  welfare.6 

The  War  Amendments  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
Civil  Rights  Bill  marked  the  culmination  of  the 
American  wave  of  the  world-wide  humanitarianism 
that  characterized  the  first  two-thirds  of  the  nineteenth 
century;  a  movement  that  had  for  its  object  the 
brotherhood  of  man — or,  as  the  French  put  it,  "Lib 
erty,  Equality,  Fraternity. "  Reaction  set  in  in  1876, 
and  the  friends  of  liberty  have  yielded  in  the  forum 
what  they  had  won  in  the  field.  The  slaveholder  did 
not  call  the  roll  of  his  slaves  at  the  foot  of  Bunker 
Hill,  but  the  lynchers  did  do  their  fiendish  work  within 
the  sound  of  Liberty  Bell. 


VIII. 

The  Negro  expects  the  white  man  to  get  over  his 
obsession  that  Negro  progress  is  inimical  to  American 
civilization. 


6  See  Independent,  July  24,  1913,  page  225. 


212  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

A  well-nigh  universal  human  stupidity  is  the  belief 
that  our  neighbor's  success  is  the  cause  of  our  failure. 
This  is  the  tap-root  of  envy,  and  can  be  made  to 
flourish  incredibly  when  properly  stimulated.  Thus 
poor  white  folks  situated  in  communities  by  themselves 
are  led  to  believe  that  the  prosperity  of  colored  people 
in  other  parts  of  the  State  is  a  menace  to  them.  They 
eagerly  vote  into  State  and  national  prominence  the 
cunning  and  conscienceless,  though  poorly  educated, 
politicians  who  promise  to  head  off  the  colored  man's 
prosperity. 

The  supreme  test  of  civilization  is  the  attitude  of 
the  strong  toward  the  weak. 

The  self-sufficiency  of  the  Negro  is  the  only  sane 
and  equitable  solution  of  the  race  problem  in  this 
country.  The  white  man  himself  is  responsible  for 
the  ethnological  bugaboo  of  social  equality.  His  effort 
to  keep  all  colored  people  to  a  dead  level,  and  that  level 
below  the  aspirations  and  capacities  of  modern  civiliza 
tion,  brings  the  inevitable  reaction  of  effort  to  escape ; 
whereas,  if  the  Negro  were  let  alone  he  would  be  con 
tent  to  be  a  man  and  flock  with  his  kind. 

Politics,  ethnography,  and  religion  seem  a  trinity 
of  discord  in  human  history.  Races  and  individuals 
are  frequently  sane  on  one  of  them,  but  rarely  on  all 
three. 

The  South  still  wants  to  treat  the  Negro  as  a  slave ; 
the  North  wants  to  treat  him  as  a  freed  man ;  neither 
wants  to  recognize  him  for  what  he  is  striving  to  be, 
namely,  a  free  man. 

IX. 

The  Negro  expects  the  white  man  to  make  the 
average  salary  of  the  Negro  school-teacher  at  least 
zvhat  the  contract  price  for  a  convict  is. 


What   the  Negro   May  Expect.  213 

The  United  States  government  refused  to  pay  the 
first  Negro  soldiers  employed  (54th  Mass.)  the  same 
wages  that  white  volunteers  were  receiving.  This 
unexplained  discrimination  of  the  secretary  of  war  is 
well-nigh  universally  imitated  by  those  who  employ 
Negro  brawn  and  brain.  Tis  a  national  vice  that  the 
Negro  expects  the  white  man  to  remedy. 

"While  much  has  been  done  for  us  along  the  lines 
of  education,  yet  our  chance  for  an  education  is  sad. 
The  average  salary  of  colored  teachers  in  the  public 
schools  in  the  South  is  just  about  $25.00  per  month, 
while  a  Negro  convict  is  rented  out  for  $46.00  per 
month."7 

We  have  no  playgrounds  for  our  children : — 

"Plenty  of   room  for  dives  and  dens, 

Glitter  and  glare  and  sin; 
Plenty  of  room  for  prison  pens, 
Gather  the  criminals  in; 

"Plenty  of  room  for  jails  and  courts — 

Willing  enough  to  pay; 
But  never  a  place  for  the  lads  to  race, 
No  never  a  place  to  play. 

"Plenty  of  room  for  shops  and  stores, 

Mammon  must  have  the  best; 
Plenty  of  room  for  the  running  sores 
That  rot  in  the  city's  breast ; 

"Plenty  of/  room  for  the  lures  that  lead 

The  hearts  of  our  youth  astray; 
But  never  a  cent  on  a  playground  spent, 
Nor  never  a  place  to  play."8 


7  R.  S.  Lovinggood,  Southwestern  Christian  Advocate,  Jan.  16,  1913. 

8  Mr.  S.  Waters  McGill,  Nashville,  Term.,  Gen.  Sec.  Y.  M.  C.  A. 


214  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

The  Negro  expects  the  white  man  to  help  remedy 
this  condition. 


X. 

The  Negro  expects  the  white  man  to  remember  the 
facts  of  history.  The  Negro  has  played  many  a  noble 
role  in  the  drama  of  human  history.  A  general 
knowledge  of  this  fact  would  tend  to  lessen  prejudice. 

As  the  Negro  troops  broke  Hood's  center  and 
made  Union  victory  possible  at  the  battle  of  Nashville, 
so  the  Negro's  brawn  broke  the  wilderness  of  this 
continent  and  made  possible  the  splendid  civilization  of 
our  subtropical  region. 

"Gen.  Jas.  B.  Steadman,  of  the  Union  army,  com 
manded  the  colored  troops  at  the  battle  of  Nashville. 
Gen.  Thomas  was  viewing  from  Ft.  Negley 
the  strategic  maneuvers  of  Gen.  Wood  just  before  the 
engagement.  He  called  his  staff  and  asked  if  some 
general  would  volunteer  to  take  his  brigade  and  break 
Hood's  left  center,  stating  that  the  loss  of  men  would 
be  so  great  that  he  would  rather  not  order  troops  in, 
but  have  them  volunteer.  While  the  generals  were 
considering  it  he  turned  to  Gen.  Steadman  and  asked 
him  what  the  colored  brigade  would  say.  Til  ask 
them,'  said  Steadman.  'When  can  you  be  back?'  'In 
twenty  minutes,  sir,'  said  Steadman.  Gen.  Steadman 
rode  away  to  his  men,  explained  the  extreme  danger 
of  such  a  charge,  and  asked  them  whether  they  would 
be  willing  to  make  it.  They  accepted  the  offer  with 
prolonged  and  tremendous  cheering.  When  Gen. 
Steadman  had  conveyed  the  message,  Gen.  Thomas 
said :  'And  will  you  lead  them  ?'  'Certainly,  I  will,  sir.' 
'Then  make  the  charge  tomorrow  morning.' 

"The  colored  troops  charged  the  Confederate  bat 
teries.  It  was  a  desperate  hand-to-hand  fight.  Some 


What  the  Negro   May  Expect.  215 

of  the  batteries  were  captured.  Then  a  fierce  bayonet 
charge  followed  upon  the  Confederate  trenches  behind 
the  batteries.  It  was  one  of  the  most  daring  feats  of 
the  great  war.  The  Confederate  lines  finally  retreated. 
Steadmaris  colored  brigade  had  turned  Hood's  left 
wing  and  made  it  possible  for  Thomas  to  win  the  battle 
of  Nashville."* 

The  Negro  has  played  his  part  as  a  soldier.  We 
have  Kipling's  word  for  it  that  "He's  a  first-rate 
fighting  man." 

The  54th  Massachusetts  at  Ft.  Wagner  and  Stead- 
man's  colored  brigade  at  Nashville  are  as  glorious  in 
the  annals  of  war  as  the  charge  of  the  Six  Hundred, 
or  the  stand  at  Thermopylae. 


XL 

The  Negro  expects  the  white  man  to  help  him  pass 
the  zone  of  incapacity. 

There  comes  a  period  in  the  history  of  organiza 
tions  and  races  when  conflicting  interests  make  united 
action  for  the  general  good  difficult,  if  not  impossible. 
'Twas  such  a  period  that  destroyed  the  solidarity  of 
Greece,  broke  up  the  Saxon  heptarchy,  rendering  the 
Norman  conquest  possible,  defeated  Protestantism  in 
the  Romance  countries,  overthrew  the  Netherlands, 
disintegrated  the  Spanish  empire,  brought  on  the 
American  Civil  War,  delays  home  rule  in  Ireland  to 
day,  and  renders  impotent  the  anti-Tammany  forces  of 
New  York  City.  Such  a  period  is  at  present  upon  the 
Negro.  The  Negro  justly  expects  the  white  man  to 
help  him  pass  this  zone  of  incapacity. 

To  separate  the  sheep  from  the  goats  we  need  and 


9  C.  H.  Bennett,  Ph.D, 


216  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

expect  the  white  man's  help.  Slavery  tended  to  level 
the  race.  We  must  get  trusted  and  capable  leaders  to 
succeed  in  freedom.  We  expect  the  white  man's  help 
to  make  them. 

The  American  Negro  needs  sane,  conservative,  un 
selfish,  patient,  Negro  leadership.  The  greatest  help 
that  can  be  given  the  race  is  to  assist  in  the  develop 
ment  of  these  leaders.  Wholesome  Negro  ideals  must 
be  created  by  men  of  Negro  blood.  These  ideals  may 
be  assisted  from  without,  but  cannot  be  superimposed. 
Masters  may  be  aliens,  but  leaders  must  be  patriots. 
Leaders  must  know  the  people  they  lead.  A  race  with 
out  leaders  of  its  own  blood  is  lost.  No  masterpiece 
was  ever  written  in  any  language  but  the  mother- 
tongue  of  the  writer;  and  great  leaders  are  always 
kindred  of  the  led.  Moses  was  a  Jew,  Cromwell  was 
an  Englishman,  Lincoln  was  an  American,  and  Tous- 
saint  L'Overture  was  a  Negro. 

It  has  been  said  in  a  good  many  ways  and  with 
a  good  many  different  kinds  of  emphasis  how  grateful 
the  Negro  ought  to  be  for  being  transformed  from  an 
African  savage  to  an  American  citizen,  notwithstand 
ing  the  limitations  with  which  prejudice  has  hedged 
that  citizenship.  Much  has  been  written  on  the  bene 
fits  the  Negro  derived  from  slavery,  and  how  grateful 
the  race  ought  to  be  therefor.  As  for  the  benefits,  I 
am  like  the  Irish  sergeant,  willing  to  let  it  go  at  that ; 
but  as  to  our  gratitude,  I  feel  like  the  archer  in  the 
chronicles  of  Monstrele. 

An  archer  was  condemned  to  death  for  poaching, 
but  before  execution  it  was  discovered  that  he  suffered 
from  stone  in  the  bladder,  a  disease  which  afflicted 
many  prominent  personages  of  that  time.  A  surgeon 
suggested  the  advantage  that  might  accrue  from  ex 
amining  the  condition  in  a  living  man.  Consequently, 
the  condemned  prisoner  was  given  over  to  a  real  vivi- 


What   the  Negro   May  Expect.  217 

section,  carried  on  by  the  surgeon  in  the  presence  of 
the  distinguished  persons  suffering  from  the  disease. 
The  victim  was  simply  held  and  cut  open  until  the 
stone  was  found  and  removed.  The  parts  were  ex 
amined  to  the  satisfaction  of  those  present  and  then 
sewed  back  together.  As  strange  as  it  may  appear,  the 
prisoner  recovered,  after  which  the  king  graciously 
pardoned  him.  He  was  not  only  a  free  man,  but  a  well 
man.  But  how  much  gratitude  he  owed  to  those  who 
cured  him  is  a  question  in  casuistry  too  complicated  for 
me.  This  is  the  Negro's  position  in  reference  to  his 
freedom. 

The  cold  facts  of  North  American  slavery  will  chill 
the  heart  of  the  historian  of  the  future ;  and  the  somber 
hierarchs  of  misology  who  sought  to  harmonize  the 
highest  humanitarianism  with  chattel  slavery,  and  to 
justify  the  selling  of  men  by  the  tenets  of  philosophy 
and  religion,  will  be  cited  in  the  archives  of  the  future 
as  queer  examples  of  the  intellectual  aberration  and 
moral  obliquity  of  mankind. 


XII. 

The  Negro  expects  the  zvhite  man  to  help  him  train 
the  rising  generation  to  conserve  the  virtues  of  their 
ancestry  and  transmit  them  with  increased  number 
and  added  luster,  to  posterity. 

The  colored  people  are  headed  away  from  slavery. 
The  clash  often  comes  with  white  people  who  are 
headed  toward  slavery.  The  bitterest  opposition  to 
Negro  education  comes  from  uneducated  or  poorly 
educated  Caucasians. 

Men  rise  to  fame  by  getting  in  the  right  place  as 
well  as  by  energy,  ability,  and  endurance.  Hans  Wag 
ner,  the  great  baseball  player,  was  a  failure  as  a 


218  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

pitcher,  but  a  world-beater  as  a  batter  and  short-stop. 
So  with  the  races.  We  have  earned  an  honorable  place 
in  American  civilization,  and  we  expect  the  white  man 
to  help  us  maintain  it. 

Will  not  some  of  our  wealthy  millionaires  establish 
some  foundations  with  this  end  in  view?  Why  not 
endow  a  medical  research  laboratory  in  connection 
with  the  Douglass  or  Mercy  Hospital  of  Philadelphia, 
or  George  W.  Hubbard  Hospital  of  Nashville,  or 
Andrew  Memorial  Hospital  of  Tuskegee  Institute? 
Is  it  too  much  to  expect  the  white  man  in  his  mag 
nificence  of  wealth  and  culture  to  establish  some 
"foundations"  for  development  of  Negro  brains  and 
morals  ? 

A  nation's  strength  is  in  men — a  leisure  class  is 
necessary  for  the  improvement  of  the  race.  I  mean 
men  who  are  not  vexed  by  the  questions :  "What  shall 
we  eat?  What  shall  we  drink?  And  wherewithal 
shall  we  be  clothed?" 

We  need  the  highest  development  of  professional 
men.  For  highest  usefulness,  men  need  to  be  de- 
developed  indigenously.  Education  in  our  great 
Northern  schools  among  white  people  seems,  tempo 
rarily  at  least,  to  unfit  some  of  our  men  for  the  exigen 
cies  of  life  among  their  own  people  in  the  South. 
There  are  men  of  our  race  who  could  do  the  race  and 
country  inestimable  good  could  they  devote  their  time 
to  the  work  of  race  improvement,  unvexed  by  the 
insistent  question  of  making  a  living. 

The  Jewish  Agricultural  and  Industrial  Aid 
Society,  supported  by  the  Baron  Hirsch  Fund,  finds 
employment,  aids  Jews  in  purchasing  homes,  loans 
money,  etc.  Such  an  effort  would  be  of  inestimable 
benefit  to  the  Negro,  relieving  the  congestion  of  the 


What  the  Negro   May  Expect.  219 

South  and  obviating  the  loss  of  vitality  of  industrious 
Negroes  in  the  slums  of  Northern  cities.10 

The  Negro  expects  the  white  man  to  learn  and  act 
upon  the  ineluctable  truth  that  no  man  nor  race  can 
permanently  obtain  justice  that  will  not  give  justice. 
People  are  more  active  as  enemies  than  as  friends. 
Let  the  friends  of  humanity  wake  up.  The  reaction 
aries  are  active. 

The  Negro  expects  of  the  white  man  the  liberality 
of  success.  Why  should  not  some  wealthy  philan 
thropist  place  within  the  reach  of  the  Negro  the 
blessings  of  the  Knapp  School  of  Country  Life?11 

Finally,  the  American  white  man  is  a  distinctive 
ethnic  entity.  The  American  Negro  is  sui  generis. 
Their  relationship  is  unparalleled  and  has  furnished 
two  unique  incidents  in  human  history  that  are  a  credit 
to  humanity  and  deserve  a  memorial  slab  in  the  corri 
dors  of  time.  Each  race  contributed  one. 

The  annals  of  the  human  race  contain  no  more 
glorious  chapters  than  those  recording: — 

(a)  The  disinterested  zeal  and  self-sacrificing  en 
thusiasm  of  the  early  abolitionists  and  the  educational 
missionaries  to  the  manumitted  slaves.  These  heroes 
were  by  no  means  all  Northern,  as  is  generally 
believed. 

(b)  The  conduct  of  the  slaves  during  the  Civil  War 
and  immediately  thereafter.  Loyalty  to  home,  self- 
restraint,  protection  of  women  and  children,  charac 
terized  the  "black  daddies"  as  well  as  the  "black 
mammies." 

Can't  we  get  together  and  furnish  a  third  unique 
event  in  human  history,  viz.,  justice,  fraternity,  equal 
ity,  with  racial  integrity? 


10  See  Independent,  Aug.  14,  1913,  page  402. 

11  See  Editorial  in  Southern  Workman,  July,  1913. 


220  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

In  this  country  we  believe  in  short  cuts  to  any 
desired  goal.  We  believe  law  is  omnipotent,  hence  the 
incessant  agitation  for  new  laws.  An  insistent  and 
noisy  minority  may  easily  put  almost  any  law  on  the 
statute  book.  Their  effectiveness,  however,  depends 
upon  another  force,  more  powerful  but  less  pliable.  It 
is  what  we  vaguely  call  public  opinion,  but  which  is 
more  accurately  expressed  by  the  German  Sittlichkeit 
and  the  Greek  ethos. 

While  "the  totality  of  existence  is  in  perpetual 
flux,"  there  is  a  reasonable  degree  of  permanency  in 
the  physical  world.  This  results  from  the  gradual 
operation  of  physical  laws.  A  gallon  of  water  sud 
denly  exposed  to  a  freezing  temperature  turns  to  ice 
gradually.  Ice  subjected  to  high  temperature  will 
return  to  water  before  becoming  steam. 

In  like  manner  is  a  reasonable  degree  of  social  per 
manency  preserved.  Lasting  changes  in  public  opin 
ion  cannot  be  made  suddenly;  the  Sittlichkeit  of  a 
people  changes  slowly.  The  fiery  eloquence  of  Toombs 
could  not  avert  the  doom  of  slavery  nor  the  erudite 
ardor  of  Sumner  bring  civil  rights  to  the  freed  men. 
Neither  will  ignorant  and  malicious  diatribes  of  ambi 
tious  politicians  stay  the  rising  tides  of  justice  and 
righteousness  in  this  glorious  Southland  of  ours. 

Racial  co-operation  is  not  incompatible  with  racial 
purity.  Make  the  Negro  self-sufficient  and  the  thing 
is  done.  Give  him  a  man's  chance  and  he  will  do  a 
man's  work. 

We  boast  a  reunited  country.  The  peace  of 
Appomattox  in  1865  was  the  unconditional  surrender 
of  the  South  to  the  power  of  the  North.  The  peace  of 
Gettysburg  in  1913  was  the  unconditional  surrender  of 
the  North  to  the  propaganda  of  the  South. 

May  we  not  hope  there  is  to  come  a  real  peace 
without  subterfuge  or  reaction,  when  righteousness 


What  the  Negro   May  Expect.  221 

will  so  fill  men's  hearts  that  the  Northern  ideal  of  free 
dom  and  equality  will  join  hands  with  the  Southern 
ideal  of  racial  integrity  and  power,  arid  together  march 
in  perfect  harmony  to  a  glorious  national  destiny,  that 
shall  embrace  all  true  citizens,  without  regard  to  race, 
color,  sex,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude? 


"Friendship  does  not  grow  where  former  differences  are 
thrust  into  sight.  There  are  wounds  of  the  mind  as  of  the 
body;  these,  too,  must  be  healed.  Instead  of  irritation  and 
pressure,  let  there  be  gentleness  and  generosity.  Men  in  this 
world  get  only  what  they  give, — prejudice  for  prejudice, 
animosity  for  animosity,  hate  for  hate.  Likewise  confidence 
is  returned  for  confidence,  good-will  for  good-will,  friend 
ship  for  friendship.  On  this  rule,  which  is  the  same  for  the 
nation  as  for  the  individual,  I  would  now  act." — CHARLES 
SUMNER. 

"Spiritual  kinship  transcends  ali  other  relations  among 
men." — KELLY  MILLER. 

"Every  step  in  the  history  of  political  liberty  is  a  sally  of 
the  human  mind  into  the  untried  future." — EMERSON. 


(222) 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  SOLUTION. 
I. 

THE  indispensable  factor  in  unity  of  action  is 
unity  of  purpose,  not  unity  of  blood.  A  unity  of  brains 
brings  that  intelligent  difference  which  makes  peace 
possible  and  co-operation  imperative.  The  Euro- 
American  and  the  Afro-American  of  this  country  are 
closer  together  in  ideals  and  aspirations  than  any  two 
separate  peoples  on  earth.  They  speak  the  same  lan 
guage,  are  attached  to  the  same  country,  adapted  to 
the  same  climate  and  like  each  other.1 

In  popular  governments,  ambitious  men  in  all  ages 
have  played  upon  the  prejudices  of  the  populace  for 
power  and  place.  Post-bellum  reaction  and  recon 
struction  in  the  South  created  a  favorable  atmosphere 
for  the  demagogue  to  exploit  race  prejudice  for  per 
sonal  gain.  Nothing  is  easier  than  to  make  a  man 
feel  that  he  is  mistreated.  The  poor  white  man  was 
made  to  believe  that  the  degradation  of  the  Negro 
meant  elevation  of  the  white  man;  and  the  nation  re 
versed  itself  on  the  fundamental  question  of  human 
justice.  So  fifty  years  after  a  successful  war  of  eman 
cipation,  the  Negro  finds  the  path  to  civil  liberty  barred 
by  discriminating  legislation  and  himself  a  despised 
suppliant  at  the  closed  gate  of  justice.  The  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  by  technical  ingenuity,  is  pick 
ing  its  way  through  the  War  Amendments  back  to  the 

1  "There  is  a  certain  amount  of  race  hatred,  of  course,  and  there 
are  reasons  for  this,  but  the  best  Southern  people  not  only  do  not  hate 
the  Negro,  but  come  nearer  to  having  affection  for  him  than  any  other 
people."  (Edwin  A.  Alderman,  LL.D.,  President  of  Tulane  University, 
New  Orleans,  La.,  before  the  American  Economic  Association,  Dec.  29, 
1903.  Quoted  by  Mr.  Murphy,  in  "The  Present  South.") 

(223) 


224  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

Dred  Scott  Decision,  which  furnished  the  popular 
slogan  of  ante-bellum  days.  "The  Negro  has  no  rights 
the  white  man  is  bound  to  respect."2  Spain  lost  her 
world-wide  political  dominion  by  religious  fanaticism, 
the  jewel  of  religious  freedom  sought  by  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  was  lost  in  the  smoke  of  the  burning  witches, 
and  America  is  endangering  democracy  by  an  un 
reasoning  reaction  against  the  progress  of  the  colored 
people. 

Archimedes  thought  he  could  move  the  earth  if  he 
could  get  a  fixed  point  from  which  to  operate.  So 
Descartes  thought  he  could  solve  the  fundamental 
problems  of  human  life  if  he  could  get  a  fixed  point 
from  which  to  start;  that  is,  an  indisputable,  elemental 
proposition  as  a  premise; — something  that  everybody 
would  accept  as  true.  This  he  thought  he  had  in 
"cogito,  ergo,  sum"  (I  think,  therefore  I  am).  But 
he  was  wrong,  and  so  is  that  school  of  political 
philosophy  that  assumes  the  degradation  of  the  Negro 
as  an  essential  condition  of  American  progress.  The 
spirit  that  insists  on  segregation  of  colored  govern- 


2  Since  the  above  was  written  the  Supreme  Court  has  given  a  de 
cision  favorable  to  the  rights  of  the  colored  people. 

"At  last  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  forced  to  squarely 
face  the  issue  involved  in  the  'grandfather'  clause  of  Oklahoma's  elec 
tion  law,  has  rendered  a  definite  decision.  It  decided  in  the  only  way  it 
could  without  revoking  the  Fifteenth  Amendment.  The  'grandfather' 
clause  had  no  other  object  than  to  disfranchise  Negro  voters  for  the 
sole  reason  that  they  happen  to  be  Negroes." — The  Public,  July  2,  1915. 

The  New  York  World  (June  22,  1915),  speaking  editorially  of  this 
decision,  said  among  other  things:  "The  Republic  is  to  be  congratu 
lated  upon  having  at  last  a  Constitution  that  is  alive  in  all  its  parts. 
For  forty-five  years,  first  by  violence  and  then  by  legislation,  we  have 
endured  the  reproach  that  one  article  of  the  fundamental  law  was  blank 
paper  wherever  it  pleased  a  local  sovereignty  to  ignore  it.  Today,  by 
the  unanimous  decree  of  a  court  presided  over  by  a  great  Chief  Justice 
who  was  once  a  Confederate  soldier,  we  have  a  Constitution  that  for 
the  first  time  since  the  Civil  War  guarantees  equal  rights  to  all,  irre 
spective  of  race  or  color.  Thousands  of  white  men  have  as  much 
reason  to  applaud  this  judgment  as  any  Negro.  Every  outcast  in  a 
Republic,  for  color  or  religion  or  race  alone,  gives  oligarchy,  bigotry, 
and  aristocracy  an  excuse  for  banishing  others  on  any  ground  that 
prejudice  may  name." 


Individual  types. 


The  Solution.  225 


ment  employes  is  the  same  spirit  that  in  bygone  ages 
had  attendants  carry  scented  sponges  on  poles  in  front 
of  dignitaries  when  they  went  about,  "lest  the  smell  of 
common  people  rise  up  and  offend  them." 


II. 

At  the  siege  of  Quebec,  when  a  messenger  told  the 
French  commander  that  the  English  were  coming  up 
from  the  rear,  he  said  it  was  impossible,  for  nobody 
could  get  up  there.  But  another  messenger  said  the 
English  were  at  that  moment  in  possession  of  the 
Plains  of  Abraham,  and  the  boom  of  guns  soon  con 
firmed  the  story.  Quebec  fell  because  the  keepers 
underestimated  the  possibility  of  courageous  effort 
and  determined  purpose.  So  the  enemies  of  democ 
racy,  the  hierarchs  of  heredity,  mistaking  the  favors 
of  fortune  for  the  merits  of  blood,  have  undervalued 
the  power  of  culture  and  the  force  of  environment. 
But  the  Fort  of  Prejudice  will  fall. 

In  the  year  of  grace  1904,  one  Mr.  William  Benja 
min  Smith,  of  Tulane  University  of  New  Orleans,  La., 
U.  S.  A.,  asks  the  question,  "Is  the  Negro  inferior?" 
and  with  perfervid  rhetoric,  albeit  logical  limping  and 
historical  strabismus,  maintains  the  affirmative,  claim 
ing  as  follows : — 

"At  present  there  rolls  between  the  historical  de 
velopment  of  the  black  and  the  white  species  an  im 
passable  river  of  ten  thousand  years.  Possibly  the 
former  might  catch  up  in  the  course  of  the  ages,  if  only 
the  latter  stood  still.  But  will  they  stand  still  ?  Can 
they  afford  to  wait  ?  Is  there  not  every  reason  to  hope 
that  they  will  forge  steadily  ahead  and  widen  still  more 
and  more  the  interval  between?  Is  not  such  the 
obvious  teaching  of  history?  Does  not  the  tree  of  life 


226  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

bud  and  bloom  and  put  forth  new  boughs  at  the  top? 
For  our  part,  we  believe  in  the  Overman,  Him  who  is 
to  come — not,  however,  from  the  lower,  but  from  the 
higher  humanity.  Such,  at  least,  seems  of  neces 
sity  our  working  hypothesis."  (Smith,  "The  Color 
Line.") 

Men  seek  to  answer  their  own  prayers  and  to  make 
their  own  prophecies  come  true.  Herein  is  the  bane  of 
false  doctrine  and  the  reason  that  believing  a  lie  leads 
to  damnation.  (See  II  Thess.  2:11,  12.)  The  man 
who  believes  his  neighbor  is  foreordained  for  hell  is 
prone  to  raise  hell  for  him.  So  the  man  who  believes 
himself,  or  race,  superior  gives  this  doctrine  material 
objectivity  by  blocking  the  other  fellow's  path  and 
stealing  his  patrimony.  Strong  delusions  have  fallen 
upon  nations,  and  they  have  been  damned  for  not  be 
lieving  the  truth.  As  I  have  just  said,  Spain  lost  her 
world-wide  dominion  from  the  "strong  delusion" 
wherewith  the  Inquisition  destroyed  her  brightest 
minds.  America  may  follow  suit  unless  she  regain 
her  sanity  on  the  race  question.  The  inferiority  doc 
trine  is  the  child  of  tyranny. 

Self-interest  has  a  power  of  metamorphosis. 
What  a  man  at  first  advocates  from  policy  he  may 
later  defend  from  principle.  The  punishment  of  every 
liar  is  that  he  eventually  believes  his  own  lies;  and 
selfishness  finally  construes  its  own  aims  to  be  for  the 
general  good. 

Mr.  Smith's  rhetoric  has  submerged  his  logic. 
His  sentiment  of  racial  snobbishness  has  destroyed  his 
sense  of  human  justice.  Investigating  the  past  and 
reconnoitering  the  future,  he  has  overlooked  the  pres 
ent.  The  river  of  years  between  the  historical  develop 
ment  of  the  Euro-American  and  the  Afro-American 
has  been  bridged  by  the  altruism  of  modern  civiliza 
tion  and  the  progressive  march  of  the  races,  moving  on 


The  Solution.  227 


parallel  lines,  has  overlapped.  The  white  race  is  still 
in  the  lead,  but  the  vanguard  of  the  blacks  is  farther 
ahead  of  the  rear  of  the  whitei  procession  than  it  is 
behind  the  white  lead;  and  all  fair-minded,  intelligent 
people'  want  an  unobstructed  race.  Why  should  the 
white  man  stop?  Why  should  the  black  man  stop? 
Why  should  either  try  to  stop  the  other?  If  the 
Caucasian  evolved  his  civilization  the  Negro  absorbed 
his;  as  did  the  German  from  the  Greeks,  and  the 
Britons  from  the  Romans.  One  possession  is  as 
secure  as  the  other.  There  are  two  ways  to  arrive — 
two  qualities  that  win  success.  The  faith  to  follow  is 
as  sure  a  passport  to  success  as  the  brains  to  lead. 
The  Negro  and  Esquimaux  reached  the  North  Pole  as 
surely  as  did  the  Caucasian. 

Sir  Sidney  Oliver,  in  "White  Capital  and  Colored 
Labor,"  says  (after  talking  with  Americans  visiting 
Jamaica  and  himself  visiting  the  Southern  United 
States)  :  "I  found  myself,  as  a  British  West  Indian, 
unable  to  account  for  an  attitude  of  mind  which  im 
pressed  me  as  superstitious,  if  not  hysterical,  and  as 
indicating  misapprehensions  of  premises  very  ominous 
for  the  United  States  of  the  future."  He  proceeds: 
"The  theory  held  in  the  Southern  States  of  America, 
and  in  some  of  the  British  Colonies,  comes,  in  sub 
stance,  to  this — that  the  negro  is  an  inferior  order  in 
nature  to  the  white  man,  in  the  same  sense  that  the  ape 
may  be  said  to  be  so.  It  is  really  upon  this  theory  that 
American  negro  phobia  rests,  and  not  only  upon  the 
viciousness  and  criminality  of  the  Negro.  This 
viciousness  and  criminality  are,  in  fact,  largely  in 
vented,  imputed,  and  exaggerated,  in  order  to  support 
and  justify  the  propaganda  of  the  race  e Delusiveness." 

And  again,  in  another  part  of  his  book :  "My  argu 
ment  has  been  that  race  prejudice  is  the  fetish  of  the 
man  of  short  views ;  and  that  it  is  a  short-sighted  and 


228  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

suicidal  creed,  with  no  healthy  future  for  the  com 
munity  that  entertains  it." 

The  hexiology3  of  the  Negro  is  distinctive.  He 
has  an  adaptability  to  circumstances  unsurpassed  by 
the  children  of  men.  It  is  admitted  by  all,  even  his 
enemies,  that  the  Negro  was  faithful  as  a  slave — a 
beau-ideal  of  a  servant — the  best  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  He  has  received  the  most  magnificent  reward 
that  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  an  oppressed  people — the 
friendship  of  the  world's  best  spirits.  The  freedom  of 
the  Negro  was  bought  at  a  higher  price,  in  white  men's 
blood  and  treasure,  than  any  people  ever  paid,  of  their 
own  blood  and  treasure,  for  their  own  liberty.4  The 
emancipation  of  the  Negro  marked  the  crest  of  the 
highest  wave  of  altruism  that  the  ocean  of  human 
effort  ever  knew. 

The  Negro  has  been  blessed  with  the  brains  and 
heart  of  the  white  race.  Washington  was  his  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  Perry  led 
him  on  Lake  Erie,, and  Jackson  praised  him  at  New 
Orleans.  Jefferson  said  that  the  edict  of  his  freedom 
was  written  in  the  Book  of  Fate,  and  Lincoln  died 
believing  the  emancipation  "an  act  of  justice  too  long 
delayed."  Since  men  stood  in  battle  array  and  knew 
the  marshalling  of  armies,  no  regiment  of  men  was 
ever  more  gloriously  officered  than  the  Fifty-fourth 
Massachusetts  at  Ft.  Wagner. 

"The  Negro  has  been  given  a  chance,  never  before 
given  to  any  destitute  race  in  all  history,  and  he  has 


3  "Every  living  creature  has  relation  with  other  living  creatures, 
which  may  tend  to  aid  it,  or  indirectly  to  destroy  it,  and  the  various 
physical  forces  and  conditions  exercise  their  several  influences  upon  it. 
The  study  of  all  these  complex  relations  to  time,  space,  physical  forces, 
other  organisms,  and  to  surrounding  conditions  generally,  constitutes 
the  science  of  hexiology."     Hexiology  is,  therefore,  "the  behavior  of 
living  creatures  in  the  presence  of  their  environments." 

4  George  W.  Cable,  "The  Negro  Question,"  page  69. 


The  Solution.  229 


shown  his  native  worth  by  taking  that  chance.  Schools 
have  been  opened  and  he  has  been  to  school.  Twenty 
thousand  are  today  in  the  higher  schools  and  colleges 
established  by  Northern  benevolence.5  Several  noble 
institutions  have  been  opened  by  denominations  of 
colored  people.  And  we  must  gratefully  recognize  the 
fact  that  the  Southern  people  are  gradually  taking 
hold,  also.  At  Paine,  and  Lane  Institutes  and  Tusca- 
loosa  Seminary  the  noblest  talent  of  the  Church  is 
giving  itself  with  devotion  to  this  work."6 


III. 

The  real  problems  of  the  South  today  are  econom 
ical,  political,  and  educational,  and  not  ethnological. 
It  is  a  poor  workman  that  quarrels  with  his  tools  and  a 
poor  statesman  that  abuses  his  constituents. 

In  the  transition  from  a  slave-holding  oligarchy  to 
an  equal-suffrage  democracy,  things  got  mixed  up  and 
the  South  became  "wool-gathered,"  confusing  absence 
of  constructive  statesmanship  with  the  presence  of  the 
Negro.  It  is  the  spirit  of  slavery  and  the  spirit  of 
freedom,  and  not  the  races,  that  are  struggling  in  the 
South.  The  rogue  with  stolen  property  in  his  pos 
session  often  joins  in  the  pursuit  of  an  innocent  party 
crying  loudly  "Stop  thief" !  Thus,  he  makes  good  his 
escape.  So  in  politics  it  is  common  for  ambitious  men 
to  cover  their  unfitness  by  raising  a  false  issue  and 
gain  power  by  fooling  the  people.  Mr.  DuBois,  in  his 
"Quest  of  the  Silver  Fleece,"  shows  how  the  cotton- 


5  "As  nearly  as  we  can  calculate  from  imperfect  records  there  were 
281  colored  men  and  women  who  received  the  Bachelor's  degree  in  arts 
and  science  this  spring  as  compared  with  250  reported  at  this  time  last 
year."  (The  Crisis,  July,  1915.) 

<5Rt.  Rev.  Wilbur  P.  Thirkield,  D.D.,  New  Orleans,  La.,  on  the 
subject,  "Present  Weaknesses  of  Negro  Ministry  Squarely  Faced." 


230  American  Civilization  and  tJic  Negro. 

mill  owners  kept  wages  down  by  threatening  the  white 
help  with  Negro  competition.  In  our  refusal  to  be 
just,  we  lose  our  opportunity  to  obtain  justice.  The 
spirit  of  democracy  is  to  grade  each  individual  accord 
ing  to  the  amount  of  manhood  his  character  will  show. 
But  vour  negrophobe  says,  "No!  Manhood  is  not  the 
test." 

Mr.  William  Benjamin  Smith,  in  his  book  "The 
Color  Line,"  defies  the  spirit  of  modern  civilization, 
wounds  the  soul  of  democracy,  and  repudiates  the 
principles  for  which  Messiah  died,  when  he  prophesies 
the  destruction  of  the  nation  "if  the  individual  stand 
ard  of  personal  excellence  be  established."  Thus 
would  race  prejudice  abrogate  the  decrees  of  fate,  and 
deny  even  the  hope  of  light  to  those  "that  sit  in  dark 
ness."  This  is  religious  foreordination  reincarnated  in 
a  political  body. 

Mr.  Smith  gets  so  excited  that  he  overlooks  what 
he  is  seeking.  In  quoting  Mr.  Bryce  to  prove  the 
inferiority  doctrine,  he  overlooks  the  settled  "con 
clusion"  "That  races  of  marked  physical  dissimilarity 
do  not  tend  to  intermarry,"  and  throws  all  his 
emphasis  on  "if  ive  were  to  suppose,  etc."7 

No  one  conversant  with  racial  conditions  in  the 
South  can  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the  soundness  of 
Mr.  Bryce's  conclusion,  and  the  improbability  of  his 
"if  we  were  to  suppose."  The  spirit  of  ethnic  solidar 
ity  is  growing  by  leaps  and  bounds  in  the  colored 
people  of  the  South.  The  tendency  to  miscegenation 
is  dying  out.  There  is  a  marked  decrease  in  the  con 
cubinage  of  colored  women  by  white  men. 

Slavery  was  the  arch-mixer  of  the  races.  The 
intimate  relationship  between  sexual  lust  and  cruelty 
is  well  known  to  modern  medicine.  The  helplessness 


7  "The  Color  Line,"  page  63. 


The  Solution.  231 


of  the  slave  was  a  temptation  to  the  master,  but  the 
habit  of  stripping  grown  women  and  adolescent  girls 
stark  naked  for  flagellation  at  the  whim  of  mistress, 
master,  or  overseer8  was  a  tax  upon  the  sexual  re 
straint  of  the  whites  that  weighed  heavily  upon  the 
integrity  of  the  races.  This  was  not  all:  the  system 
of  Negro  slavery  in  the  South  tempted  lust  with  lucre. 
White  men  begetting  children  by  slave  women  not  only 
escaped  the  responsibility  of  paternity,  but  received  the 
reward  of  cupidity.  The  child  followed  the  condition 
of  the  mother,  and  the  bastardized  offspring  fre 
quently  went  into  the  pocket  of  the  lecherous  father. 

The  condition  of  slavery,  and  not  the  morals  of  the 
slave,  promoted  the  hybridization  of  the  race.  Free 
dom  changed  this ;  but  the  spirit  of  slavery  still  lingers. 
Only  the  initiated  know  how  difficult  and  dangerous  it 
is  in  certain  sections  for  respectable  colored  men  to 
protect  their  women.9 

"And  yet,"  says  Mr.  Murphy,  "the  Negro  home 
exists.  Those  who  would  observe  broadly  and  closely 
will  find  a  persistently  increasing  number  of  true 
families  and  real  homes,  a  number  far  in  excess  of  the 
popular  estimate,  homes  in  which  with  intelligence, 
probity,  industry,  and  an  admirable  simplicity,  the 
man  and  the  woman  are  creating  our  fundamental  in 
stitution.  Scores  of  such  homes,  in  some  cases 
hundreds,  exist  in  numbers  of  our  American  com 
munities — exist  for  those  who  will  try  to  find  them 
and  will  try,  sympathetically,  to  know  them.  But  one 
of  the  tragic  elements  of  our  situation  lies  in  the  fact 
that  of  this  most  honorable  and  most  hopeful  aspect  of 


8  See  "Negro  in  the  New  World,"  Sir.  H.  H.  Johnston,  ch.  xiv 
and  xv. 

9  Not  long  ago,  according  to  press  dispatches,  a  Negro  woman, 
(under  20)  shot  a  white  man  in  her  room,  where  he  had  broken  into 
while  she  was  undressing.    She  was  arrested,  taken  to  jail,  and  lynched, 
and  her  brothers  had  to  flee  for  their  lives. 


232  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

Negro  life,  the  white  community,  North  or  South, 
knows  practically  nothing."10 

Thus  has  the  Negro  met  squarely  the  severest  test 
of  Western  civilization,  for,  as  Mr.  Murphy  says  in  the 
same  connection :  "All  promise  and  all  attainment  are 
worth  while,  but  the  only  adequate  measure  of  social 
efficiency  and  the  only  ultimate  test  of  essential  racial 
progress  lie  in  the  capacity  to  create  the  home ;  and  it 
is  in  the  successful  achievement  of  the  idea  and  the 
institution  of  the  family,  of  the  family  as  accepted  and 
honored  under  the  conditions  of  Western  civilization, 
that  we  are  to  seek  the  real  criterion  of  Negro 
progress." 

I  am  not  a  miscegenationist;  neither  as  it  applies  to 
America  nor  in  the  world-wide  sense  of  a  "pan-mix 
ture."  I  believe  in  the  comity  of  races,  rather  than 
the  obliteration  of  races,  as  the  basis  of  universal 
brotherhood. 


IV. 

Racial  comity  is  the  solution  of  the  race  question  in 
the  South. 

I  believe  in  the  comity  of  cultural  units  as  a  basis 
for  national  co-operation  in  this  country.  No  prece 
dent,  you  say?  Can't  we  set  one  ?  Any  precedent  for 
the  discovery  of  America  or  the  foundation  of  this 
union?  for  the  Civil  War  or  Emancipation  ?  The  van 
guard  of  civilization  must  move  without  precedent. 

Few  conclusions  of  ethnology  are  apodictic.  The 
efforts  to  place  the  findings  of  inferiority  doctrinaires 
in  this  high  class  have  failed  utterly — whether  con 
sidered  historically,  ethnically,  morphologically,  or 
functionally,  the  argument  has  invariably  broken 


10  Murphy,  "The  Present  South." 


The  Solution.  233 


down.  Neither  brain-cells  nor  surface  gyri,  nor  sulci 
have  any  distinctive  racial  traits. 

Notwithstanding  the  numerous  attempts  that  have 
been  made  to  find  structural  differences  between  the 
brains  of  different  races  of  man  that  could  be  directly 
interpreted  in  psychological  terms,  no  conclusive  re 
sults  of  any  kind  have  been  attained.  The  status  of 
our  present  knowledge  has  been  well  summed  up  by 
Franklin  P.  Mall.  He  holds  that  on  account  of  the 
great  variability  of  the  individuals  constituting  each 
race,  racial  differences  are  exceedingly  difficult  to  dis 
cover,  and  that  up  to  the  present  time  none  have  been 
found  that  will  endure  serious  criticism.  (Boas.) 
(See  Chapter  XIII.) 

"A  culture,  a  civilization,  to  be  helpful  and  health 
ful,  must  proceed  from  within  and  not  from  without. 
It  must  be  an  internal  evolution,  not  an  external  im 
position.  The  impulse  may,  indeed,  be  given  by  con 
tact;  it  may  proceed  from  another;  but  it  must  strike 
upon  a  nature  prepared,  responsive,  and  kindred.  It 
must  release  energies  and  potencies  already  present 
and  in  high  tension, — it  cannot  create  them ;  it  may  be 
an  occasion,  it  cannot  be  a  cause.  You  may  ignite  a 
match  by  friction,  but  not  a  piece  of  chalk."11 

This  is  exactly  what  happened  to  the  Negro.  In 
the  fiery  furnace  of  slavery  the  savage  was  destroyed. 
The  Negro  emerged  with  the  pure  gold  of  civilization 
burned  into  his  nature.  The  beneficiaries  of  Lincoln's 
proclamation  were  a  civilized  people. 

In  a  notable  address  delivered  May  10,  1900,  at  the 
First  Annual  Conference  held  at  Montgomery,  Ala., 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Southern  Society  for  the 
Promotion  of  the  Study  of  Race  Conditions  and  Prob 
lems  in  the  South,  Professor  W.  F.  Wilcox,  of  Cor- 


Smith,  "The  Color  Line." 


234  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

nell  University,  Chief  Statistician  of  the  United  States 
Census  Office  at  Washington,12  truly  said:  "Divers 
races  of  men  may  be  roughly  graded  according  to  their 
value  to  humanity  and  their  ability  to  improve." 

I  am  perfectly  willing  to  rest  the  case  of  my  people 
on  this  principle.  The  Negro  is  just  as  indispensable 
to  the  South  as  the  white  man,  and  is  just  as  willing 
and  just  as  able  to  improve.  The  concession  of  this 
fact  by  the  white  man  is  the  first  step  in  permanent 
racial  comity.  It  means  racial  integrity,  co-operation, 
and  peace. 

The  words  of  a  distinguished  Southern  Baptist 
minister  are  pertinent  here:  "We  are  the  Negro's 
debtor  for  services  rendered;  we  have  been,  and  are 
and  shall  continue  to  be,  the  beneficiaries  of  his  toil. 
For  generations  the  Negro  was  our  slave.  He  felled 
our  forests,  tilled  our  soil,  gathered  our  harvests, 
tended  our  homes.  It  is  largely  through  his  sweat  and 
toil  that  our  country,  North  and  South,  has  become 
what  it  is.  The  planter  of  the  South  received  the 
product  of  his  labor  in  the  abundant  yield  of  the  cotton 
fields.  The  manufacturer  of  the  North  received  that 
same  product,  put  it  through  his  looms,  and  sent  it 
back  to  the  South,  levying  large  profits,  both  upon 
the  Negro  and  upon  his  master.  Neither  North  nor 
South  is  justified  in  making  wry  faces  at  the  other, 
about  this  matter.  Every  section  of  the  republic 
profited  equally  from  the  Negro's  slavery.  No 
thoughtful  American  can  ignore  the  debt  and  the 
obligation  that  we  owe  the  race,  unless  he  has  a  heart 
of  stone.  .  .  .  Our  millions  have  come  to  us 
largely  through  the  Negro's  toil.  Our  civilization  is 
largely  his  achievement,  view  it  as  you  will.  As  he  has 
been  and  is  the  producer  of  our  civilization,  he  of  right 


12  Ibid.,  page  180. 


The  Solution.  235 


ought  to  receive,  and  we  both  of  privilege  and  of  debt 
ought  to  bestow,  a  full  measure  upon  him,  until  he 
shall  realize  the  highest  and  best  things  possible  to 
him  as  our  brother."13 

"The  South  is  a  solid  South  in  more  than  a  political 
sense.  We  are  a  solid  South  in  a  social  sense.  I  mean 
whatever  affects  the  social  welfare  of  one  man  affects 
the  social  welfare  of  every  other  man  in  the  section. 
We  are  bound  together  by  the  facts  of  proximity ;  we 
are  bound  together  by  economic  relations;  we  are 
bound  together  by  the  traditions  of  the  past;  we  are 
bound  together  by  all  the  forces  of  present  life  which 
demand  the  guarding  of  our  health,  our  ideals,  and  our 
civilization.  We  are  not  eight  million  negroes  and 
twenty-one  million  whites ;  we  are  twenty-nine  million 
human  beings,  and  whatever  affects  one  of  our 
company  must  of  necessity  affect  all  the  other 
28,999,999."  14 

"As  all  races  have  contributed  in  the  past  to  cul 
tural  progress  in  one  way  or  another,  so  they  will  be 
capable  of  advancing  the  interest  of  mankind,  if  we 
are  only  willing  to  give  them  a  fair  opportunity."15 

A  bi-racial  democracy  is  not  only  possible,  but  prac 
ticable  and  desirable.  It  is  the  sane  and  equitable  solu 
tion  of  the  ethnic  puzzle  of  the  South — the  one  thing 
necessary  to  complete  the  establishment  of  democratic 
government  in  this  section. 

Nothing  in  history  shows  the  white  too  good  for 
such  a  government;  nothing  shows  the  black  man  too 
bad.  How  can  it  be?  What  can  we  do  to  bring  it 
about?  The  question  naturally  resolves  itself  into 
several  elements : — 


!3  Rev.  A.  J.  Barton,  D.D.,  "The  White  Man's  Task  in  Uplift  of  the 
Negro." 

14  W.   D.   Weatherford,   Ph.D.,   "How   to   Enlist   South's  Welfare 
Agencies." 

15  Boas,  "Mind  of  Primitive  Man."  / 


236  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

1.  What  can  the  Negro  do? 

2.  What  can  the  Caucasian  do? 

3.  What  can  they  do1  together? 

Each  of  these  questions  may  be  still  further  divided 
into  two  questions,  as  follows : — 

i. 

(a)  What  can  the  Negroes  do  for  themselves? 

(b)  What  can  they  do  for  the  Caucasians? 

2. 

(a)  What  can  the  Caucasians  do  for  themselves? 

(b)  What  can  they  do  for  the  Negroes? 

3- 

(a)  What  can  the  Negroes  and  the  Caucasians  co 
operating  do  for  the  Negroes  ? 

(b)  What  can  they  do  for  the  Caucasians ? 

To  answer  these  questions  in  detail  would  greatly 
simplify  matters.  Space  will  permit  only  generaliza 
tions  here. 

Beginning  with  the  third  question — What  can  the 
races  do  together? 

The  first  thing  is  to  resolve  to  be  fair  and  just  to 
each  other,  to  rededicate  themselves  to  the  ideals  of 
democracy  and  the  welfare  of  their  common  country. 
Human  rights  and  racial  privileges  must  be  sharply 
differentiated.  Neither  our  geographic  unity  nor  our 
ethnic  separateness  should  ever  be  lost  sight  of.  Help 
ful  co-operation  should  characterize  the  one  and 
mutual  respect  and  courtesy  promote  the  other.  Let 
us  encourage  interracial  co-operation  on  matters  ap 
pertaining  to  the  common  good.  May  not  the  intelli 
gent  and  conservative  members  of  both  races  form  a 
kind  of  clearing-house  for  the  debits  and  credits  of 
racial  contact  ?  A  knowledge  of  a  friend's  virtues  may 
give  us  patience  with  his  vices.  Mutual  respect  is  a 


The  Solution.  237 


prerequisite  to  mutual  fair  play.  The  problem  can  be 
solved  better  in  detail.. 

Let  us  find  the  facts.  This  is  no  easy  task.  The 
races  know  so  much  about  each  other  that  is  not  so. 
The  average  individual  "reasons  but  to  err."  Bacon 
described  four  kinds  of  errors  or  false  notions  that 
seduce  men's  minds  from  the  truth.  Race  adjustment 
in  the  South  is  hindered  by  all  four  forms ;  but  what 
he  calls  idols  of  the  market-place  and  idols  of  the 
theater  are  the  most  troublesome.  The  first  are  the 
loose  inaccuracies  of  ordinary  gossip — erroneous 
opinions  that  men  communicate  to  each  other  in  social 
and  business  intercourse.  The  second  are  the  system 
atically  taught  tenets  of  false  philosophies  and  unsound 
political  creeds. 

The  effectiveness  of  opposition  to  one's  progress  is 
in  inverse  ratio  to  one's  speed.  A  stone  thrown  at  less 
than  a  mile  a  minute  shatters  a  window-pane  against 
which  it  strikes;  a  pistol-bullet  at  40  or  50  miles  a 
minute  goes  through  with  little  disturbance,  while 
light  at  a  rate  of  twelve  million  miles  a  minute  passes 
through  with  no  perceptible  disturbance  whatever.  A 
candle  hurled  with  sufficient  speed  will  pass  uninjured 
through  an  oak  plank. 

Apparently  insurmountable  opposition  often  indi 
cates  that  we  have  too  little  momentum — are,  in  fact, 
moving  too  slowly.  That  is  what  is  the  matter  with 
the  country  today.  It  has  slackened  its  pace  toward 
that  ideal  government  which  "derives  its  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed" ;  "a  government  of 
the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,"  under 
which  any  individual,  whatsoever,  may  have  "life, 
liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness"  unhindered  and 
unhindering. 

"The  lust  of  other  things  entering  in  has  choked 
the  word."  "For  the  love  of  money,  we  have  denied 


238  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

the  faith  and  pierced  ourselves  through  with  many 
sorrows,"  and 

"Man's  inhumanity  to  man," 
has  again  postponed  the  day 

"When  truth  and  worth  o'er  a'  the  earth 
Shall  bear  the  gree  and  a'  that." 

"The  real  solution  of  the  trust  question,  the  race 
question,  and  all  the  great  problems  of  our  govern 
ment  today  is  a  rededication  of  the  thought  of  the 
country  to  the  ideals  of  justice  and  fair  play." 

If  we  set  our  eyes  on  justice  for  all  men,  the 
momentum  of  righteousness  will  overcome  all  ob 
stacles,  even  the  race  question. 


V. 

All  things  being  equal,  a  white  man  is  more  apt  to 
believe  a  white  man  than  he  is  a  black  man,  and  vice 
versa.  Herein  lies  the  great  good  of  interracial  mis 
sionaries  and  biracial  conferences.  Such  men  as  Mr. 
W.  D.  Weatherford  and  Prof.  A.  M.  Trawick,  of 
Nashville,  Tennessee,  are  real  heralds  of  a  glorious 
dawn.  They  study  the  colored  people  and  then  tell 
their  own  people  the  truth  about  them. 

The  Southern  Sociological  Congress  is  a  positive 
asset  to  modern  civilization  and  the  progress  of 
democracy.  Its  founders  and  promoters  are  benefac 
tors  of  mankind.  That  magnificent  woman,  Mrs. 
Anna  Russell  Cole,  whose  wealth  and  wisdom  made  it 
possible;  the  energetic  and  gifted  secretary,  Rev.  Jas. 
E.  McCulloch,  and  the  matchless  chairman  of  the  Race 
Problem  Section,  Dr.  J.  H.  Dillard,  deserve  a  niche  in 
the  Valhalla  of  their  country's  glory. 


The  Solution.  239 


"Battling  for  Social  Betterment/'  "The  Human 
Way,"  and  "A  New  Voice  in  Race  Adjustment"  are 
the  books  on  the  race  question  which  the  nation  should 
read  and  which  patriotic  editors,  especially  Southern 
editors,  should  try  to  popularize. 

Mutual  respect,  mutual  understanding,  and  mutual 
confidence  are  necessary  to  effective  co-operation. 
People  who  destroy  these  qualities  either  by  ignorance, 
ambition,  greed,  or  malice  are  enemies  of  their  kind 
and  country.  The  general  welfare  demands  their  sup 
pression.  Dixon  and  Johnson  have  been  drawbacks  to 
their  race  and  country.  It  was  an  unfortunate  thing 
for  the  country  that  popular  notice  was  given  to  the 
Leopard  Spots  or  the  Reno  Battle.  If  neither  had  been 
noticed,  the  subsequent  "bad  eminence"  of  the  chief 
actors  would  not  have  marred  the  country's  history. 


VI. 

Each  race  should  reject  instantly  and  utterly  any 
leadership  that  abuses  or  proposes  injury  to  the  other 
race. 

"The  culture  of  the  South  will  find  the  occasions 
of  its  supreme  and  immediate  interest,  not  in  the  issues 
presented  by  the  Negro,  but  in  the  problems  presented 
by  the  undeveloped  forces  of  the  white  race." 
(  Murphy. ) 

The  acuteness  of  the  race  question  has  been 
greatly  accentuated  and  exaggerated  in  the  South  by 
the  white  people  elected  to  office,  men  whose  only 
qualification  is  their  ability  to  abuse  the  Negro.  I 
have  in  mind  two  notable  illustrations.  Their  govern 
mental  and  senatorial  campaigns  were  both  won  by 
abusing  the  Negro,  though  they  were  appealing  to 
democratic  primaries  where  Negroes  could  not  vote. 


240  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

Senator  -  -  went  so  far  in  one  of  his  speeches,  for 
home  consumption  only  (I  have  it  from  an  ear  and  eye 
witness),  as  to  say  that  the  Negro  has  no  more  right 
to  coffined  sepulture  or  funereal  ceremonies  than  a  dog 
or  a  horse.  I  reproduce  only  his  ideas,  not  his  words. 
Our  vocabularies  are  different. 


VII. 

Each  race  should  discourage  and  discountenance 
the  traitors  of  the  other.  White  people  who  go  among 
Negroes  to  abuse  white  people,  and  Negroes  who  go 
among  white  people  to  abuse  Negroes,  are  undesirable 
citizens  and  enemies  to  the  general  welfare.  The  races 
are  equally  guilty.  Black  perfidy  has  fed  white  preju 
dice.  It  is  no  more  creditable  to  the  white  people  to 
quote  and  believe  an  immoral  and  discredited  Negro 
preacher  than  it  is  to  the  colored  people  to  have  pro 
duced  him.  Each  race  can  serve  itself  and  serve  the 
other  race  by  scanning  cautiously  the  motives  and 
morals  of  interracial  messengers. 

"Alas!  that  Scottish  maid  should  ever  sing 

Of  combat  where  -her  lover  fell, 
That  Scottish  bard  should  wake  the  string 
The  triumphs  of  our  foes  to,  tell," 

was  a  just  comment  upon  Scott's  "Marmion,"  because 
the  author,  a  Scot,  had  celebrated  an  English  victory 
over  Scotland. 

Interracial  messengers  should  talk  and  exemplify 
the  virtues  of  the  race  they  represent.  Negroes  need 
to  learn  more  about  the  virtues  of  the  white  people, 
and  the  white  race  need  to  learn  more  about  the  virtues 
of  the  Negroes.  Each  knows  enough  of  the  other's 
vices.  They  are  already,  indeed,  deep  forces  of  racial 
suspicion. 


The  Solution.  241 


The  chief  glory  of  the  educational  missionaries 
the  white  people  have  sent  among  the  colored  people  is 
that  they  have  been  messengers  of  peace.  I  forgive 
their  egotism  when  I  contemplate  their  enthusiasm. 
They  sang  the  glories  of  the  white  man  until  the  Negro 
became  so  enraptured  that  he  confounded  race  with 
attainment,  and  thought  it  necessary  to  be  white  to  be 
a  man.  A  mad  desire  seized  him  to  be  white.  The 
skin-bleacher  and  hair-straightener  were  in  glory. 
The  white  man  got  scared  and  thought  the  whole 
world  was  after  "his  squaw." 

The  intraracial  agitators  and  the  interracial  liars 
got  in  their  work.  Ignorance  and  malicious  "recrimi 
native  entanglement"  of  unrelated  subjects  put  new 
danger  into  an  old  situation.  White  men  forgot  that 
the  Negro  had  never  shown  any  intention  or  desire 
to  break  over  the  racial  barriers  even  when  he  was 
most  ignorant  and  most  powerful.  This  attitude  of 
the  white  man,  coupled  with  the  desire  of  the  Negro 
for  freedom  and  security  in  that  freedom,  "threw  him, 
intoxicated  with  more  importance  and  power  than 
either  friend  or  foe  intended  him  to  have,  into  the 
arms  of  political  hypocrites  and  thieves. 

"It  is  this  attitude  that  has  demonstrated  with 
ghastly  clearness  the  truth,  counted  suicidal  to  confess, 
that  even  the  present  ruling  class  is  not  strong  enough 
or  pure  enough  to  establish  and  to  maintain  pure 
government  without  the  aid  and  consent  of  the  gov 
erned.  I  admit  that  the  Negro  problem  is  not  always 
and  only  political.  No  problem  can  be.  It  is  not  in  the 
nature  of  politics  for  any  question  to  be  only  political. 
The  Negro  question  is  fundamentally  a  question  of 
civil  rights,  including  political  rights  as  the  fortress  of 
all  others.  It  is  not  always  a  peculiarly  African  prone- 
ness  to  anarchy ;  nor  is  it  always  race  instinct ;  it  is 
often  only  traditional  pride  of  a  master-class,  that  re- 

16 


242  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

mands  the  Negro  to  separate  and  individual  tenure  of 
his  civil  rights ;  but  it  is  to  perpetuate  this  alienism  that 
he  is  excluded  from  political  copartnership;  and  it  is 
the  struggle  to  maintain  this  exclusion  that  keeps  the 
colored  vote  solid,  prevents  its  white  antagonists  from 
dividing  where  they  differ  as  to  measures,  and  holds 
them  under  a  fatal  one-party  idea  that  rules  them  with 
a  rod  of  iron."  1G 

We  need  a  new  Peter  the  Hermit  to  preach  a  new 
crusade,  not  to  rescue  an  empty  tomb  from  infidels,  but 
to  rescue  the  jewel  of  democracy  from  the  demon  of 
prejudice.  It  is  the  slavery  thought,  and  not  the  slave 
race,  that  is  hindering  democracy.  To  remove  the 
unnecessary  discrimination  against  the  Negro  will 
loose  the  white  man  in  the  race  of  life  and  not  endan 
ger  racial  integrity. 

In  October,  1851,  speaking  of  woman  suffrage, 
Wendell  Phillips  said:  "Every  step  of  progress  the 
world  has  made  has  been  from  scaffold  to  scaffold,  and 
from  stake  to  stake.  It  would  hardly  be  exaggeration 
to  say  that  all  the  great  truths  relating  to  society  and 
government  have  been  first  heard  in  the  solemn  pro 
tests  of  martyred  patriotism  or  the  loud  cries  of 
crushed  and  starving  labor.  The  law  has  been  always 
wrong.  Government  began  in  tyranny  and  force, 
began  in  the  feudalism  of  the  soldier  and  the  bigotry 
of  the  priest;  and  the  ideas  of  justice  and  humanity 
have  been  fighting  their  way,  like  a  thunderstorm, 
against  organized  selfishness  of  human  nature.  And 
this  is  the  last  great  protest  against  the  wrong  of  ages. 
It  is  no  argument  to  my  mind,  therefore,  that  the  old 
social  fabric  of  the  past  is  against  us."  17 


16  Cable,  "The  Negro  Question." 

17  Wendell  Phillips,  "Woman's  Rights." 


The  Solution,  243 


VIII. 

Democracy  means  equality  or  disaster.  Equality 
in  what?  Americans  lack  discrimination  in  what  the 
French  call  nuance.  A  French  actress  won  great  ap 
plause  by  appearing  perfectly  nude  in  the  play,  but 
was  hissed  when  she  responded  to  a  curtain  call  in  the 
same  attire.  The  first  was  art;  the  second  vulgarity. 
But  we  cannot  distinguish  between  an  intelligent  in 
terest  in  the  personal  welfare  of  our  neighbors  and 
having  them  as  social  guests.  We  confuse  the  right 
of  life  with  the  privilege  of  place. 

Public  utilities  are  "incriminatingly  entangled" 
with  private  privileges.  A  seat  at  the  family  fireside 
or  a  meal  at  the  family  board  involves,  or  may  involve, 
everything;  but  a  seat  in  a  theater  or  a  railroad  coach, 
or  a  meal  at  a  hotel,  or  a  public  banquet  involves  noth 
ing,  or  should  involve  nothing,  beyond  the  occasion 
itself.  An  Englishman  will  ride  all  day  with  you  in 
a  compartment  of  a  railway  carriage,  eat  with  you  at 
the  hotel,  and  not  know  you  the  next  day.  There  is  a 
difference  between  public  civility  and  private  soci 
ability.  It  is  moral  petulancy  to  expect  the  denial  of 
public  rights  to  conserve  private  virtues. 

"A  little  discrimination,  a  little  poise,  a  little  of  that 
equable  capacity  which  can  note  the  distinction  be 
tween  incidents  great  and  small,  a  little  clear-headed 
appreciation  of  perspective  events,  a  due  sense  of  pro 
portion,  will  aid — as  nothing  else  can  aid — in  the 
secure  establishment  of  the  doctrine  of  race  individu 
ality  and  integrity.  No  doctrine  or  dogma  can  be  so 
injuriously  compromised  as  by  its  wanton  and  unin 
telligent  exaggerations.  A  doctrine  is  always  held 
most  strongly  when  it  is  held  most  sanely."18 


18  Murphy,  "The  Present  South." 


244  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

The  bulwark  of  racial  integrity  in  the  South  is 
equal  opportunity  and  a  square  deal  in  all  matters  of 
Jin  man  rig  Jits  and  public  welfare. 

Civilization  connotes  fair  play,  equality  of  oppor 
tunity.  Unfair  distribution  of  benefits  is  the  canker 
that  has  destroyed  the  civilizations  of  the  past.  Un 
willingness  to  let  the  other  fellow  have  a  show,  injus 
tice,  immorality,  and  "man's  inhumanity  to  man"  are 
but  different  names  for  the  hydra-headed  monster  that 
has  ever  stood  in  the  pathway  of  human  progress  and 
is  now  seeking  to  bar  out  our  glorious  Southland  from 
the  most  splendid  career  in  the  history  of  nations. 


IX. 

The  wrhite  man  has  been  brutalized  by  po\ver  and 
misled  by  egotism.  It  is  an  injury  to  civilization  to 
make  an  ignorant,  immoral,  shiftless  man  believe  that 
because  of  his  color  he  is  superior  to  an  intelligent,  up 
right,  thrifty  man.  It  is  a  serious  atavism  of  morals 
as  well  as  of  manners  to  teach  white  children  that  it  is 
belittling  to  be  polite.  19  It  is  only  the  atavistic, 
uncultured,  or  downright  ignorant  who  refuse  to  use 
Mr.,  Mrs.,  and  other  polite  verbal  coin  of  social  or 
business  exchange  when  thrown  into  contact  with 
respectable  people  of  whatever  color,  social  condition, 
or  nationality.  This  is  the  beggar-on-horseback, 
nouveau-riche  form  of  culture  that  bases  its  claim  to 
good  breeding  upon  pretension  and  not  upon  posses 
sion.  The  real  culture  of  the  South  seldom  offends 
here;  and  when  it  does,  it  is  usually  through  some 
degenerate  scion  that  seeks  to  uphold  racial  and  family 
dignity  by  passing  assumption  for  worth. 


19  See  footnote,  page  367. 


The  Solution.  245 


Business  intercourse  is  hampered  and  friction 
needlessly  engendered  by  this  racial  Chauvinism  that 
leads  many  white  people  to  disregard  the  ordinary 
amenities  of  civilization  in  their  dealings  vvith  Ne 
groes. 

This  is  not  in  accordance  with  the  ideals  of  ethics, 
nor  the  traditions  and  conduct  of  the  great  men  of  the 
South.  The  sun  is  not  injured  by  shining  upon  the 
lowly;  neither  is  politeness  degraded  when  extended 
to  the  humble.  The  supercilious  airs  of  pompous  but 
petty  satraps  "puffed  up  with  a  little  brief  authority," 
such  as  ticket  agents,  clerks,  street-car  conductors, 
etc.,  make  life  at  times  unnecessarily  burdensome  to 
colored  people.  Were  it  not  for  the  exceptions,  life 
would  be  unendurable.  It  is  a  strange  superiority  of 
blood  that  rests  upon  such  inferiority  of  manners. 

The  imagination  of  Dante  seconded  by  the  pencil 
of  Dore  draws  an  awful  picture  of  the  tortures  inflicted 
upon  the  souls  of  women  who  in  life  tortured  and  cor 
rupted  other  women.  The  human  intellect  is  over 
awed  in  an  effort  to  portray  the  final  doom  of  those 
who  willfully  block  the  avenues  of  culture  and  mar  the 
happiness  of  human  beings  merely  to  gratify  some 
whim  of  assumed  superiority  of  blood. 


X. 

More  than  twenty  years  ago  George  W.  Cable20 
said:  "Can  the  Southern  question  be  solved?  There 
are  men  in  the  North  and  South  who  say  No,  and, 
without  being  at  all  able  to  tell  what  they  mean  by  the 
phrase,  think  it  must  be  'left  to  solve  itself.'  But  care 
ful  thinkers  on  either  side  of  the  question  never  so 
reply.  Their  admission,  whether  tacit  or  expressed,  is 

20  Cable,  "The  Negro  Question." 


246  American  Civilization  and  l/ic  AY^ro. 

that  'can  be'  is  out  of  the  debate;  it  must  be  solved. 
It  is  a  running,  not  a  healing  sore ;  one  of  those  great 
problems  'whose  solution  strains  the  bonds  of  society 
and  taxes  the  wisest  statesmanship';  that  kind  of  prob 
lem  with  which  every  nation  must  deal.  We  must 
solve  it. 

"The  Negro  question  is  three-quarters  of  a  century 
old.  Within  that  period  a  vast  majority  of  the  nation 
have  totally  changed  their  convictions  as  to  what  are 
the  Negro's  public  rights.  Within  that  period  the 
sentiment  of  every  community  and  the  laws  of  every 
State  in  the  Union,  as  well  as  the  Federal  Government, 
have  been  radically  altered  concerning  him.  In  their 
dimensions,  in  their  scope,  in  their  character,  the 
problem's  original  relations  have  passed  through  a 
great  and  often  radical  change.  So  far  from  the  prob 
lem  still  existing  in  its  original  relations,  only  two  or 
three  of  those  original  relations  any  longer  exist. 

"The  problem  is  being  solved ;  slowly,  through  the 
years,  it  is  true ;  in  pain,  in  sweat,  in  blood,  with  many 
a  mistake,  many  a  discouragement,  many  an  enemy, 
and,  saddest  of  all,  many  a  neutral  friend  in  North 
and  South.  Yet  it  is  being  solved." 

To  hasten  this  solution,  the  Negro  stands  ready, 
anxious,  and  able  to  contribute  his  part;  and  in  the 
interest  of  harmony  is  willing  to  concede  everything 
except  his  self-respect  as  a  man  and  his  rights  as  a 
human  being. 

XL — MULATTOES. 

The  bianco-negro  composite21  seems  to  be  the  bug 
bear  of  the  ethnologist  and  the  nightmare  of  anthro 
pology.  The  exigencies  of  tyranny  have  evolved  some 

21  This  word  is  coined  in  the  interest  of  scientific  accuracy,  and  may 
be  used  to  designate  a  mixture  of  Caucasian  and  Negro  blood  in  any 
proportion. 


The  Solution.  247 


strange  logic  and  exemplified  some  queer  morals. 
But  the  rarest  specimen  of  intellectual  light  seeking 
to  adjust  the  straight  ways  of  reason  to  the  circuitous 
paths  of  moral  obliquity  is  found  in  the  ante-bellum 
discussion  of  the  servile  status  of  the  Afro-American 
mixed  blood. 

It  was  in  the  early  fifties  of  the  last  century,  Dr. 
Channing,  an  anti-slavery  advocate  wrote:  "But  the 
worst  is  not  told.  As  a  consequence  of  criminal  con 
nections,  many  a  master  has  children  born  into  slavery. 
Of  these,  most,  I  presume,  receive  protection,  perhaps 
indulgence,  during  the  life  of  the  fathers ;  but  at  their 
death,  not  a  few  are  left  to  the  chances  of  a  cruel 
bondage.  These  cases  must  have  increased,  since  the 
difficulties  of  emancipation  have  been  multiplied.  Still 
more,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  there  are  cases  in  which 
the  master  puts  his  own  children  under  the  whip  of  the 
overseer,  or  sells  them  to  undergo  the  miseries  of  a 
bondage  among  strangers. 

"I  should  rejoice  to  learn  that  my  impressions  on 
this  point  are  false.  If  they  be  true,  then  our  own 
country,  calling  itself  enlightened  and  Christian,  is 
defiled  with  one  of  the  greatest  enormities  on  earth. 
We  send  missionaries  to  heathen  lands.  Among  the 
pollutions  of  heathenism,  I  know  nothing  worse  than 
this.  The  heathen  who  feasts  on  his  country's  foe  may 
hold  up  his  head  by  the  side  of  the  Christian  who  sells 
his  child  for  gain,  sells  him  to  be  a  slave.  God  forbid 
that  I  should  charge  this  crime  to  a  people !  But,  how 
ever  rarely  it  may  occur,  it  is  a  fruit  of  slavery,  an 
exercise  of  power  belonging  to  slavery,  and  no 
laws  restrain  or  punish  it.  Such  are  the  evils  which 
spring  naturally  from  the  licentiousness  generated  by 
slavery." 

Mr.  Fletcher,  an  eloquent  and  learned  pro-slavery 
writer,  quotes  the  words  of  Mr.  Channing  and  com- 


248  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

ments  as  follows:  "The  owner  of  slaves  who  acts  in 
conformity  to  the  foregoing  picture,  to  our  minds,  dis 
plays  proofs  of  very  great  debasement,  and  his  off 
spring,  stained  with  the  blood  of  Ham,  we  should 
deem  most  likely  to  be  quite  fit  subjects  of  slavery;  we 
cannot  regret  that  the  laws  do  not  punish  nor  restrain 
him  from  selling  them  as  slaves;  we  should  rather 
regret  that  the  laws  did  not  compel  him  to  go  with 
them. 

"That  there  are  instances  in  the  slave  States  where 
the  owner  of  female  slaves  cohabits  with  them,  and  has 
offspring  by  them,  is  true.  There  may  be  instances 
where  such  parent  has  sold  them  into  slavery, — they  in 
law,  being  his  slaves ;  yet,  we  aver  that  we  have  never 
known  an  instance  in  which  it  has  been  done.  That 
such  offspring  have  been  sold  as  slaves,  by  the  opera 
tion  of  the  law,  must  certainly  be  acknowledged;  and 
that  such  instances  have  been  more  frequent  since  the 
action  of  the  abolitionists  has  aroused  the  slave  States 
to  a  sense  of  their  danger,  and  thereby  caused  the  laws 
to  be  more  stringent  on  the  subject  of  emancipation,  is 
also  true.  And  are  you,  ye  agitators  of  the  slave  ques 
tion,  willing  to  acknowledge  this  fact  ?  And  that  your 
conduct — even  you  yourselves — are  even  now  the 
cause,  under  God,  of  the  present  condition  of  slavery, 
which  many  such  persons  now  endure?  Is  not  he  who 
places  the  obstruction  on  the  highway,  whereby  the 
traveller  is  plunged  in  death,  the  guilty  one  ?  In  what 
light,  think  ye,  must  this  class  of  slaves  view  you  and 
your  conduct?  But  we  wish  not  to  upbraid  you.  If 
you  are  ignorant,  words  are  useless.  If  you  are  honest 
men  and  know  the  truth,  we  prefer  to  leave  you  in  the 
hands  of  God  and  your  own  conscience. 

"We  hold  that  cohabitation  with  the  blacks,  on  the 
part  of  the  whites,  is  a  great  sin,  and  is  proof  of  a 
great  moral  debasement ;  nor  will  we  say  but  that  the 


The  Solution,  249 


conservative  influences  of  God's  providence  may  have 
moved  the  abolitionists  to  the  action  of  forever  placing 
a  bar  to  the  emancipation  of  this  class  of  slaves,  such 
colored  offspring,  in  order  that  the  enormity  of  the 
sin  of  such  cohabitation  may  be  brought  home,  in  a 
more  lively  sense,  to  the  minds  of  their  debased 
parents.-'22 

This  is  vicarious  atonement  with  a  vengeance. 

Lincoln's  proclamation  freed  the  slaves  from 
domination  by  their  masters,  but  left  the  mixed  blood 
in  the  toils  of  bad  logic  and  pseudo-science.  There 
continually  creep  into  the  current  discussion  of  the 
race  problem  two  mutually  contradictory  and  equally 
unwarranted  assumptions  concerning  him. 

The  first  is  that  the  evident  primacy  of  the  mixed 
bloods  in  Afro-American  progress  indicates  the  in 
feriority  of  the  full  blood.  The  other  assumption  is 
that  the  mixed  blood  is  inferior  to  both  parent  stocks. 
There  mutual  contradiction  has  no  effect  upon  their 
use  by  the  same  author.23 

The  conditions  these  assumptions  attempt  to  ex 
plain  are  easily  explainable  upon  simpler  and  more 
rational  grounds.  The  principle  of  selection  and  sur 
vival  of  the  fittest  explains  the  first  condition,  and 
heredity  explains  the  second. 

It  is  not  only  reasonable  but  highly  probable  that 
the  slave  woman  selected  by  the  master  or  overseer 
would  be  above  the  average  in  form,  feature,  or  en 
dowment.  Consciousness  of  kind  would  tend  to  soften 
the  rigors  of  serfdom  imposed  upon  the  offspring  and 
open  to  them  avenues  of  improvement  denied  their 
fellow-servants.  Many  of  these  people  are  the  de 
scendants  of  common-law  marriag^  or  morganatic 
unions,  and  have  had  lavished  upon  them  all  the  love 

22  Fletcher,  "Studies  on  Slavery." 

23  Archer,  "Through  Afro-America." 


250  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

and  care  of  parenthood.  Some  of  the  best  blood  of 
both  races  got  together  at  times  in  these  unions.  Out 
of  this  condition  grew  the  necessity  in  certain  localities 
of  defining  the  word  Negro.24 

No  assumption  of  inferiority  is  necessary  to  ex 
plain  the  frequent  leadership  of  this  class.  In  fact,  it 
is  no  mean  argument  for  the  very  opposite  contention 
when  we  recollect  the  frequency  with  which  these 
children  were  dependent  upon  the  mother  for  moral, 
spiritual,  and  intellectual  guidance.  It  is  a  well-known 
principle  of  heredity  that  good  children  often  have  bad 
fathers,  but  seldom,  indeed,  bad  mothers.25  Add  to 
this  the  equally  well-known  fact  that  mixed  bloods  are 
usually  though  not  invariably26  classed  as  Negroes, 
with  all  the  handicaps  and  restrictions  this  implies,  and 
you  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  in  all  fairness  the 
colored  people  should  be  credited  with  the  rnajor  part 
of  the  virtues  and  debited  with  the  minor  part  of  the 
vices  of  this  class.  That  the  opposite  rule  obtains  is 
but  another  item  in  the  long  chapter  of  unfair  dis 
criminations  which  handicap  the  Afro-American  in 
the  race  of  life. 

Another  fact  in  this  connection  worth  noting,  is 
that  many  mixed  bloods  of  this  type  have  figured  in 


24  See  Appendix  A. 

25  "What  we  owe  to  the  great  men  of  the  world,  we  owe  primarily 
to  their  mothers.    The  history  of  the  human  race  is  twined  like  a  gar 
land  around  the  hearthstones  of  humanity.    A  man  may  pride  himself 
upon  a  son  whose  good  traits  bespeak  a  great  and  good  career;  but 
it  is  now  a  fairly  accepted  law  of  heredity,  established  by  the  researches 
of  modern  science,  that  in  most  cases  of  normal  heredity,  the  male 
offspring  borrows  its  traits  from  the  female  parent  and  not  from  the 
father.     Unfortunately,  we  know  too  little  of  the  great  mothers  of 
the  world.    Like  the  violet,  they  blossom  in  secret  places;  and,  as  the 
whereabouts  of  the  shrinking  flower  is  often   disclosed  only  by  the 
fragrance  it  exhales  upon  the  passing  breeze,  so  do  we  often  discover 
these  modest  women  only  by  the  perfume  of  those  good  works  which 
have  gone  forth  from  a  secluded  home,  to  scatter  sweetness  and  light 
along  the  ways  of  life  and  breathe  a  benediction  to  the  world.     One 
such  there  was  in  Nazareth." — Mosby  in  "Causes  and  Cures  of  Crime." 

26  See  "The   Facts  of   Reconstruction,"  by   Major  Jno.   R.   Lynch, 
ch.  xxiv. 


The  Solution.  251 


history.  The  intellectual  hierarchy  of  the  ages  con 
tains  more  than  a  "dash"  of  Negro  blood.27  One  of 
the  most  virile  and  able  men  of  that  remarkable  group 
who  founded  this  government  was  a  West  Indian 
hybrid.  There  seems  to  be  indisputable  documentary 
evidence  that  Alexander  Hamilton  was  an  octoroon. 
There  was  a  Russian  writer  of  international  fame  who 
belonged  to  this  class, — Alexander  Sergelevitch  Push 
kin  (1799-1837),  a  Russian  Count,  poet,  dramatist. 
The  celebration  of  his  one  hundredth  anniversary  was 
made  a  national  event.  The  educated  world  knows  of 
Dumas.  The  first  martyr  for  American  liberty  was 
Crispus  Attucks,28  a  mixed  blood.  W.  E.  B.  DuBois 
and  Booker  T.  Washington  are  both  men  of  more  than 
national  fame.  Coleridge  Taylor  in  Music  and  Henry 
O.  Tanner  in  Painting  are  both  contributors  to  the 
artistic  world;  while  Dr.  Daniel  H.  Williams,  of 
Chicago,  undoubtedly  advanced  the  frontiers  of  sur 
gery29  and  Dr.  S.  C.  Fuller,  of  Massachusetts,  has 
widened  the  horizon  of  pathology. 

Now,  as  to  the  inferiority  assumption,  heredity 
is  the  simple  and  full  explanation  of  its  undoubted 
occurrence  every  now  and  then.  No  fanciful  theories 
of  racial  deterioration  by  mongrelism  are  necessary  to 
explain  the  inferiority  of  the  bastard  spawn  of  Legree 
and  Topsy.  When  each  of  the  parents  is  below  the 
average  in  his  or  her  race,  it  is  human  experience  to 
expect  offspring  inferior  to  either  race.  This  is  but  an 
illustration  of  the  well-known  principle  that  like  pro 
duces  like.  So  we  come  back  to  the  established  prin 
ciples  of  ethnology, — variations  within  the  race. 
Mixed  bloods  are  good,  bad,  and  indifferent,  just  as 
other  people,  -black  or  white. 


27  See  Appendix,  "Color  Problem  in  United  States." 

28  See  page  296. 

29  "International  Textbook  of  Surgery,"  vol.  i,  page  895. 


252  American  Civilization  and  flic  Negro. 

There  is  an  historical  aspect  of  their  existence, 
however,  whose  importance  seems  not  sufficiently 
noted. 

"God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way 
His  wonders  to  perform." 

The  mere  existence  of  the  bianco-negro  composite 
destroyed  the  chief  arguments  in  favor  of  African 
slavery  in  America.  It  was  then  claimed  that  the 
color  and  features  of  the  Negro  permanently  fixed  his 
servile  status.  About  1840  De  Tocqueville  wrote: 
"The  abstract  and  transient  fact  of  slavery  is  fatally 
united  to  the  physical  and  permanent  fact  of  color. 
The  tradition  of  slavery  dishonors  the  race,  and  the 
peculiarity  of  the  race  perpetuates  the  tradition  of 
slavery. 

"That  the  Negro  transmits  the  eternal  mark  of  his 
ignominy  to  all  his  descendants ;  and  although  the  law 
may  abolish  slavery,  God  alone  can  obliterate  the 
traces  of  its  existence. 

"The  modern  slave  differs  from  his  master,  not 
only  in  condition,  but  in  his  origin.  Nor  is  this  all ;  we 
scarcely  acknowledge  the  common  features  of  man 
kind  in  this  child  of  debasement  whom  slavery  has 
brought  among  us.  His  physiognomy  is  to  our  eyes 
hideous.  I  despair  of  seeing  an  aristocracy  disappear 
which  is  founded  upon  visible  and  indelible  signs." 

He  was  quoted  approvingly  by  pro-slavery  writers 
as  late  as  i86o.30  Justification  for  different  political 
status  was  found  in  different  ethnic  appearance. 
Black  and  white  were  interpreted  in  terms  of  inferior 
ity  and  superiority. 

The  presence  of  the  mixed  blood  destroyed  this 
argument.31  Uncle  Tom's  character  alone  pleaded 

30  Williams,  "Letters  on  Slavery,"  page  26. 

31  "I  preached  recently  to  a  large  congregation  of  slaves,  the  third 
of  whom  were  as  white  as  myself.     Some  of  them  had  red  hair  and 
blue  eyes."     (Rev.  John  H.  Aughey,  in  a  letter  from  Mississippi  dated 
Dec.  25,  1861.) 


A  typical  family  group. 


The  Solution.  253 


for  him  and  his  fellows.  Not  only  did  Frederick 
Douglass  make  an  equally  strong  appeal  with  charac 
ter,  but  his  personality  made  an  appeal  of  blood. 
Henry  Ward  Beecher's  spectacular  illustrations  of 
the  methods  of  the  slave  auctioneer  would  not  have 
thrilled  his  audience  to  popular  frenzy  had  the  victim 
been  black.  The  light  face  as  well  as  the  suffering  of 
Elizabeth  Blakely,  the  run-away  mulatto  girl,  fired  the 
eloquence  of  Wendel  Phillips  and  moved  the  heart  of 
Frederika  Bremer.  The  mistreatment  of  a  mulatto 
slave-girl  kindled  in  Abraham  Lincoln's  bosom  the 
fire  of  an  unquenchable  resentment  against  slavery. 
The  sufferings  of  "Eliza"  "put  a  million  tongues  in 
the  wounds"  of  "Uncle  Tom."  The  octoroon  on  the 
auction  block  gave  a  dynamic  verity  to  the  appeals  of 
golden-charactered  pure  bloods  like  Sojourner  Truth 
and  Harriet  Tubman. 

The  prostitute  has  been  termed  the  vestal  virgin  of 
civilization.  Her  sufferings  quenched  fires  that  would 
otherwise  have  destroyed  the  foundations  of  society. 
So  the  mixed  blood,  bearing  the  double  burden  of  op 
pression  and  betrayal,  by  his  suffering  fanned  the 
smoldering  and  almost  extinct  embers  of  justice  into  a 
torch  of  liberty  that  enlightened  the  world.  The 
friends  of  humanity  everywhere,  North,  East,  South, 
and  West,  saw  that  the  race  of  the  slave  was  no  justi 
fication  of  the  principle  of  slavery.  The  American 
and  French  Revolutions  irrevocably  condemned  the 
principle  of  slavery  as  an  economic  system;  and  the 
bianco-negro  hybrid  condemned  it  as  a  political  neces 
sity  of  ethnic  adjudication.  The  slaves  in  America 
were  no  longer  black.  They  were  of  all  colors,  from 
coal  black  to  blonde  white,  and  from  blonde  white  to 
coal  black  again.  Thoughtful  people  then  perceived 
that  slavery  was  based  on  caste,  and  not  on  color  or 
race.  Then  a  great  fear  arose  that  solidified  and 


254  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

aroused  the  divided  and  indifferent  North.  The  poor- 
white  blood  of  the  South  gave  it  voice.  Abraham 
Lincoln's  great  speech  about  a  house  divided  against 
itself  sealed  the  doom  of  slavery.  The  fear  that  the 
laboring  white  man  would  become  a  serf,  and  not  love 
for  the  Negro  or  the  American  Union,  manned  the 
armies  of  the  North.  To  save  the  white  man's  free 
dom,  the  nation  destroyed  the  black  man's  slavery. 

Who  could  have  foreseen  that  the  raping  of  slave- 
women  would  have  ripened  the  fruit  of  freedom  and 
renewed  the  altars  of  civilization?  But  the  work  is  not 
done. 

"A  little  leaven  leaveneth  the  whole  lump."  The 
sluggish  tropical  blood  has  been  sufficiently  energized 
for  adaptability  to  the  more  arduous  existence  in  a 
temperate  climate.  All  indications  point  to  a  wider 
diffusion  of  the  white  blood  already  incorporated  in  the 
Negro  race,  but  no  fresh  inoculation.  In  other  words, 
the  Afro-American  is  tending  to  racial  homogeneity 
and  racial  exclusiveness.  Growing  race  pride  is  surely 
killing  miscegenation.  The  numerical  excess  of  light- 
colored  females  and  their  tendency  to  marry  the  darker 
males  is  evident  to  the  most  superficial  observer.32 
Race  instinct  and  moral  soundness  have  given  this 
class  the  good  sense  to  prefer  a  black  husband  to  a 
white  paramour.  Thus  the  colored  American  is  grow 
ing  more  distinctive  and  at  the  same  time  more  self- 
sufficient  socially.  This  means  increasing  ethnic 
cleavage,  and  consequently  increasing  racial  con 
tentment. 

"In  general,  whatever  tends  toward  the  sharp 
demarcation  of  the  two  races,  toward  the  accurate 
delimitation  of  their  spheres  of  activity  and  influence, 
will  unquestionably  make  for  peace,  for  prosperity,  for 


32  See  typical  family  group. 


The  Solution.  255 


mutual  understanding,  and  for  general  contentment. 
On 'the  other  hand,  every  attempt  to  blur  these  bound 
aries,  to  wipe  out  natural  distinctions,  to  mix  immis- 
cibles,  must  always  issue  in  confusion,  discord,  failure, 
reciprocal  injury,  and  final  ruin/'33 

The  presence  of  the  mixed  blood  in  the  slave-pen 
wrought  the  destruction  of  that  vile  monument  to 
man's  "inhumanity  to  man."  His  presence  in  the 
racial  ghetto  may  have  the  same  effect.  History  often 
repeats  itself,  and  the  world  grows  freer  as  it  grows 
wiser.  Freedom  and  intelligence  are  the  bulwarks  of 
racial  integrity  and  peace. 

The  stone  which  the  builders  rejected  became  the 
head  of  the  corner;  and  the  despised  hybrid  may  be 
come  the  means  by  which  this  Southland  will  travel 
safely  the  long  and  dangerous  road  from  oligarchy  to 
democracy. 


33  Smith,  "The  Color  Line."  page  108. 


"What  I  want  to  impress  you  with  is,  the  great  weight 
that  is  attached  to  the  opinion  of  everything  that  can  call 
itself  a  man.  Give  me  anything  that  walks  erect,  and  can 
read,  and  he  shall  count  one  in  the  millions  of  the  Lord's  sac 
ramental  host,  which  is  yet  to  come  up  and  trample  all 
oppression  in  the  dust. 

"They  tell  us  that  this  heart  of  mine,  which  beats  so  un- 
intermittently  in  the  bosom,  if  its  force  could  be  directed 
against  a  granite  pillar,  would  wear  it  to  dust  in  the  course  of 
a  man's  life.  The  Capitol  of  Injustice  is  marble,  but  the 
pulse  of  every  humane  man  is  beating  against  it.  God  will 
give  us  time,  and  the  pulses  of  men  shall  beat  it  down.  Take 
the  mines,  take  the  fishing-skiffs,  take  the  mills,  take  all  the 
coin  and  the  cotton,  still  the  day  must  be  ours,  thank  God, 
for  the  hearts — the  hearts  are  on  our  side!" — WENDELL 
PHILLIPS. 


(256) 


O\ 


CHAPTER  XL 

PERSONALITY  AND  CRITICISM— "A  CLOUD 
OF  WITNESSES." 

Itf  a  previous  chapter  we  discussed  some  methods 
and  analyzed  some  testimony.  We  will  now  pay  some 
attention  to  critics  and  cfiticism.  The  value  of  a  man's 
testimony  is  to  be  determined  not  only  by  his  desire 
but  by  his  ability  to  tell  the  truth;  by  what  he  knows 
as  well  as  by  what  he  says.  Ignorance  is  often  as 
sertive  and  malevolence  is  active,  while  knowledge  is 
silent  and  benevolence  immobile. 

Last  night  (March  26,  1915)  I  sat  on  the  platform 
in  the  auditorium  of  Meharry  Medical  College  and 
listened  to  the  following  program : — 

INVOCATION  S.  M.  PITT 

Medical  Department. 

REMARKS — MASTER  OF  CEREMONIES J.  H.  GRIFFIN 

President  of  Medical  Class. 
"LOVE'S  WILFULNESS" R.  BARTHELEMY 

Meharry  Orchestra. 

ADDRESS— THE  IDEAL  NURSE Miss  E.  A.  BARNETT 

Nurse  Training  Department. 
GLEE  CLUB  

Dental  Department. 
CORNET  SOLO— HOLY  CITY T.  MONTE  RIVERA 

Medical  Department. 
ADDRESS — EFFECTIVENESS  OF  DENTAL  PURSUITS HENRY  BULLOCK 

Dental  Department. 
LUCIA  DI  LAMMERMOOR G.  DONIZETTI 

Meharry  Orchestra. 
ADDRESS— THE  MODERN  TREND  OF  MEDICINE WALTER  L.  BROWN 

Medical  Department. 
GLEE  CLUB   

Dental  Department. 
HISTORIAN A.  E.  THOMPSON 

Medical  Department. 
MOSZKOWSKIANA— M.  MOSZKOWSKI  

Meharry  Orchestra. 

No  Repetition  of  Numbers. 

(257) 


258  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

It  was  the  Class  Night  Exercises  of  1915.  The 
audience  of  more  than  eight  hundred  people  taxed 
the  capacity  of  the  building.  The  students  and  their 
friends  were  there. 

Modestly  but  conventionally  arrayed,  the  speakers 
and  performers  took  their  various  parts.  There  was 
no  noise,  no  announcements.  From  the  first  word  of 
the  prayer  to  the  last  full-toned  diapason  of  the 
orchestra  there  was  not  a  hitch.  Wit  was  there  and 
eloquence  and  epigram  and  pathos.  Melody  and  har 
mony  were  there.  When  the  clear  and  high-pitched 
but  mellow  tones  of  the  cornet  solo  flooded  the  house 
with  music,  the  audience  felt  a  perceptible  thrill. 

"My  higher  self,  emergent, 
Rose  to  new  life  ineffable. 
Beyond  all  signs,  beyond  descriptions, 
Soul  dimness  and  depression  changed 
To  ecstasy  of  flight  and  soaring  exaltation. 
I  felt  the  impact  of  strong-surging  truth 
Upon  the  gates  of  my  poor  utterance." 

My  soul  went  out  to  each  participant  and  I  said  by 
thought-telepathy : — 

"Why  should  you,  snub  opportunity 
Or  fear  to  be  interested  in  yourself? 

Let  not  the  bane 

Of  fear  lay  waste  your  heart  and  desolate 
Your  soul." 

These  young  people  of  my  race,  speakers  and 
audience,  were  running  with  skill  and  patience  the  race 
set  before  them;  but  where  was  "the  great  cloud  of 
witnesses"  St.  Paul  describes  as  compassing  about 
those  who  run  the  race  of  life  ? 

With  tireless  eyes  I  searched  the  audience.  There 
were  but  three  white  people  present, — the  venerable 
Dean  of  Meharry  with  his  noble  consort  and  the 


Personality   and   Criticism.  259 

duteous  daughter  of  the  founder  of  the  school,  Miss 
Mamie  Braden. 

The  past  rose  before  me  and 

"Fond  memory  brought  the   light 
Of  other  days  around  me." 

I  saw  forms  and  heard  voices  of  blessed  memory. 
(I  speak  only  that  which  I  know  and  testify  only  to 
what  I  have  seen.) 

No  better  or  truer  or  braver  men  and  women  have 
ever  been  born  than  those  who  manned  the  watch- 
towers  of  learning  erected  for  the  manumitted  slaves 
of  this  Southland.  They  were  the  ripest  fruit  of  al 
truism,  the  very  flower  of  civilization.  But  they  are 
gone! 

"How  are  they  blotted  from  the  things  that  be ! 
How  few,  all  weak  and  withered  of  their  force, 
Wait  on  the  verge  of '  dark  eternity, 
Like  stranded  wrecks,  the  tide  returning  hoarse, 
To  sweep  them  from  our  sight ! 
Time  rolls  his  ceaseless  course." 

Phillips,  of  Roger  Williams;  Cravath,  Morgan, 
and  Spence,  of  Fisk;  Braden  and  Patterson,  of  Old 
Central  Tennessee  College;  Father  Robinson,  who 
taught  in  Edgefield;  Miss  Kate  Lyon  and  the 
Southern  white  physicians,  Tucker,  Sneed,  Stevens, 
and  Baskette, — all  of  Meharry;  where  are  they? 
They  have  received  "the  last  cold  kiss  that  awaits  us 
all"  and  entered  into  that  rest  which  remains  for  the 
people  of  God. 

President  Cravath  and  Prof.  Patterson  sleep  with 
the  soldiers  of  the  Union  in  the  National  Cemetery. 
Dr.  Braden  and  Miss  Lyon  await  the  trump  with  the 
grateful  beneficiaries  of  their  service,  in  beautiful 
Greenwood. 


260  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

Father  Robinson  lies  in  an  unknown  and  unmarked 
grave  in  the  old  City  Cemetery.  Most  of  the  others 
rest  in  Mt.  Olivet.  They  are,  however,  together  in  the 
spirit- world;  and  all  died  believing  they  had  served  a 
deserving  people.  But — 

"Still  there  are  some  few  remaining." 

Prof.  Tefft  and  Miss  Dyer,  Prof.  Wright  and  Miss 
Wells,  and  dear  old  Sister  Joanna  P.  Moore  are  still 
with  us,  but  "out  of  harness." 

Dean  Hubbard  and  the  two  ladies  mentioned  are 
not  only  with  us,  but  are  still  on  the  watch-towers  and 
still  believe  in  my  people. 


II. 

The  conclusions  of  ethnology  and  sociology  are 
largely  assertory  judgments.1  The  character  and 
experience  of  the  witnesses  become  of  first  importance 
in  weighing  their  testimony.  The  testimony  for  and 
against  the  Negro  must  therefore  be  judged  largely  by 
the  personality  of  the  witnesses  giving  it. 

The  scene  that  I  have  attempted  to  describe  was 
typical  and  familiar  to  the  class  of  people  I  have  just 
enumerated  and  might  be  duplicated  in  any  city  where 
schools  for  the  freedmen  exist.  There  are,  however, 
other  scenes  and  other  sides  to  Negro  character. 
There  is  the  thoughtless,  happy,  honest,  hard-working, 
good-natured,  mellow-voiced,  music-loving,  easily-im- 
posed-upon,  trusting,  emotional  child  of  nature ;  faith 
ful  unto  death  in  personal  attachment,  uninterested 
and  unknowing  in  matters  of  deep  thought  or  ab 
stract  duty;  while  at  times  neglectful  of  minor  details, 
he  is  thoroughly  reliable  in  large  ones,  and  grows  into 

1  See  Introduction. 


Personality   and   Criticism.  261 

the  heart  of  his  employer  until  a  rugged  old  sinner 
like  Senator  Tillman  softens  his  diatribes  against  the 
race  by  declaring  that  he  and  the  Negro  foreman  on 
his  farm  would,  if  necessary,  die  for  each  other. 

It  is  the  white  people  who  know  this  type  of  Negro, 
who  make  it  hard  for  emigrant  agents  and  labor  agi 
tators  that  try  to  induce  the  Negro  to  leave  the  South. 

But  there  is  a  darker  picture.  I  have  described  the 
top  and  middle  strata  of  Negro  society.  Let  us  go 
down  to  the  bottom  where  scenes  of  the  Berlin2  dance- 
house  are  duplicated.  The  Negro  can  duplicate  the 
white  man's  vices  as  well  as  his  virtues.  There  is  the 
Negro  brothel,  the  gambling  hell,  the  dens  of  vice, 
thievery,  and  drink,  where  human  frailty  is  coined  into 
gold, — dives  of  infamy,  usually  owned  by  white  men 
and  frequently  conducted  by  them  in  person,  and 
always  a  source  of  revenue  to  some  white  man. 

Here  is  the  heart  of  the  Negro  problem.  From 
these  places  are  graduated  alike  the  Negro  criminal 
and  the  negrophobe.  It  is  rather  significant  that  the 
anti-Negro  writer  always  knows  of  the  dens,  but  not 
of  the  colleges.  Even  many  fair-minded  people  think 
the  slum  problem  is  all  there  is  to  the  Negro  problem, 
and  believe  the  Negro  to  be  all  there  is  to  the  slum 
problem.  Our  efforts  and  arguments  must  be  directed 
to  the  rational,  though  at  times  uninformed  and 
thoughtless,  people  who  can  and  will  see  the  matter  in 
its  true  light  if  it  is  properly  presented. 

There  should  be  just  sufficient  publicity  on  this 
subject  to  keep  the  thinking  man  in  possession  of  the 
true  facts.  If  this  is  done  we  can  have  nothing  to 
fear.  "A  good  cause  can  sustain  itself  upon  a  tem 
perate  dispute."  The  agitator  dearly  loves  contro 
versy  and  attention.  Without  these  he  dies  of  inani- 


2  See  Chapter  V. 


262  American  Civilization  and  tJic  Negro. 

tion.  In  the  name  of  justice  and  the  general  welfare, 
I  ask  the  patriotic,  fair-minded,  intelligent,  American 
people  to  let  him  die.  Let  the  public  carefully  scan  the 
moral  character  and  cautiously  weigh  the  intellectual 
accomplishments  of  those  who  attack  the  Negro.3  It 
is  an  unfortunate  thing  that  the  voice  of  the  anti- 
Negro  agitator,  though  in  a  minority,  is  the  only 
voice  on  the  race  question  heard  in  some  parts  of 
the  South.  Free  speech  is  only  an  ideal.  People  who 
are  willing  to  speak  only  the  truth  must  therefore,  on 
some  subjects,  preserve  a  discreet  silence. 

In  examining  the  personal  side  of  this  racial  con 
troversy  I  shall  discuss  the  character  and  credibility  of 
the  Negro's  friends  only.  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them."  The  devotees  of  a  doctrine  may  furnish 
a  key  to  its  acceptability.  The  Negro  has  reason  to  be 
proud  of  his  champions.  "Let  others  sing  the  arms 
of  Caesar,  I  will  sing  the  altars  of  Caesar  and  those 
days  which  he  has  added  to  the  calendar !"  My  heart 
goes  out  in  gratitude  to  the  good  white  people  who 
have  been  and  are  still  our  friends,  rather  than  in 


3  How  many  anti-Negro  writers  ever  attended  a  concert  by  the 
Mozart  Society  of  Fisk  University  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  or  any  like 
function? 

The  following  is  from  the  Nashville,  Tenessean  and  American,  the 
leading  morning  paper  of  Middle  Tennessee,  May  1,  1915 : — 

"FisK  CONCERT  is  MUSICAL  TREAT. 
'ELIJAH'  RENDERED  IN  BEAUTIFUL  MANNER 

BY 
MOZART  SOCIETY  BEFORE  LARGE  AUDIENCE. 

"The  Mozart  Society  rendered  its  seventy-third  concert  in  Fisk 
Memorial  Chapel,  Friday  night,  the  building  being  well  filled  with  a 
representative  Nashville  audience  of  music  lovers,  that  were  thoroughly 
pleased  with  the  entertainment.  Several  hundred  white  people,  mostly 
from  the  various  local  educational  institutions,  were  present. 

"Mendelssohn's  oratorio  of  'Elijah'  was  rendered  by  the  society, 
and  the  music  department  scored  one  of  its  greatest  musical  triumphs 
in  the  successful  rendition  of  the  composition.  .  .  . 

"Although  the  program  lasted  nearly  three  hours,  the  audience 
seemed  not  to  tire  in  the  least,  every  listener  being  so  thoroughly 
pleased  with  the  excellence  of  the  singing." 


Personality   and   Criticism.  263 

revenge  to  those  who  for  various  reasons  are  our 
enemies. 

Mr.  Murphy  is  right:  "The  consciousness  of 
grievances  is  not  an  inspiring  social  asset  for  a  class 
or  for  a  race." 

"My  marvelling  childhood's  legend  store"  was 
indeed  of  "strange  ventures  hapt  by  land  and  sea." 
But  no  "Jack  the  Giant  Killer's"  thrilling  feats,  nor 
wandering  Gulliver's  exciting  bewilderments,  carried 
my  "budding,  golden  hours  on  fairies'  frolic  wings." 
No  King  Arthur  and  the  Knights  of  the  Round  Table, 
nor  Robinson  Crusoe  and  his  man  Friday;  but  Negro 
men  and  Negro  women,  wounded  and  bleeding,  plead 
ing  at  the  closed  gate  of  justice. 

My  maternal  grandfather  anticipated  the  Procla 
mation  by  more  than  thirty  years.  My  father,  also, 
prayed  "heel-prayer"  successfully  before  Lincoln  was 
known  to  fame  or  the  forces  of  freedom  had  converged 
toward  the  immediate  and  unconditional  liberty  for  the 
Southern  slaves.  The  disquietudes  of  my  childhood 
were  often  soothed  by  crooning  lullabies,  breathing 
gratitude  to  God  for  Lincoln  and  1863.  My  ears  often 
tingled  at  the  thrilling  narrative  of  some  quandam 
fugitive  slave.  I  had  not  reached  my  teens  when  I 
wondered 

"Why  was  man  given  the  power  to  make  his  brother  mourn  ?" 

My  mind  was  saturated  with  the  tales  of  tyranny  and 
scenes  of  blood.  My  grandfather,  though  cheated  and 
robbed  and  betrayed,  escaped  actual  physical  violence. 
My  father  was  not  so  fortunate.  Out  of  this  medley 
of  sorrows  there  arise  two  clear  notes  that  dominate 
my  repertoire  of  slavery-day  tales.  The  fidelity,  cour 
age,  and  self-sacrifice  of  the  poor  white  man  that  went 
from  Canada  to  Virginia  for  my  grandmother,  and 
brought  her  safe  to  her  husband,  is  one ;  and  the  second 


264  American  Ciznlisation  and  the  Negro. 

is  like  unto  it,  only  more  so.  My  father's  life  was  a 
deeper  tragedy  and  brought  out  higher  virtues.  Shift 
ing  fortunes  changed  the  ownership  of  my  father  from 
the  Sinclair  class  of  master  to  one  of  the  Legree  type. 
This  new  master  planned  to  give  him  an  exemplary 
scourging  and  then  sell  him  to  the  traders  for  the  far 
South. 

Some  finesse  was  necessary  to  avoid  resistance  on 
the  part  of  the  slave — a  resistance  that  might  not  only 
involve  monetary  loss  through  damage  to  the  slave, 
but  physical  suffering  through  damage  to  the  master. 
There  was  mutual  dislike  and  determination — and 
suspicion.  Each  had  accurately  gauged  the  other ;  for 
the  slave  was  planning  to  run  away — and,  while 
punctiliously  obedient,  his  manner  was  not  satisfac 
tory.  He  did  not  sing.  He  used  his  words  with  too 
much  care.  He  was  too  observant.  In  short,  he  knew 
too  much. 

Perhaps  an  earlier  incident  will  prove  illuminating 
here.  When  he  was  a  mere  child  ("a  shirt-tail  chap," 
according  to  the  local  vernacular)  there  was  a  run 
away.  For  the  evident  purpose  of  intimidation,  the 
punishment  to  be  inflicted  upon  the  fugitive  when  cap 
tured  was  freely  discussed  in  the  hearing  of  the  slaves. 
The  child's  unexpected  comment  after  hearing  a  con 
versation  of  this  kind  chilled  his  mother's  heart  (I  got 
the  story  from  her)  :  "Mammy,  I'm  going  to  run  away 
when  I  get  big."  The  desire  grew  with  the  years;  but 
good  treatment,  lack  of  opportunity,  and  maternal 
attachment  prevented  an  overt  attempt  at  realization. 

The  new  master's  ways  crystallized  the  desire  into 
purpose.  Each  was  on  the  alert — but,  "on  the  op 
pressor's  side  there  was  power."  It  was  a  game  of 
wits,  but  the  master  loaded  the  dice.  He  took  advan 
tage  of  the  slave's  obedience  to  practise  treachery. 
The  slave  was  ordered  to  take  a  load  of  whisky  from 


Noted  musicians. 


Personality   and   Criticism.  265 

— — — — — — — 1, 

the  distillery  on  the  farm  to  the  warehouse  in  town. 
Men  were  secretly  hired  to  rush  upon  him  from  their 
hiding  places  in  the  warehouse  and  tie  him.  He  could 
then  be  tortured  into  submission  and  humiliation  with 
out  being  damaged  for  the  market. 

The  acquiescence  of  the  poor-white  men  thus  em 
ployed  was  a  foregone  conclusion  and  no  questions 
were  asked.  One  of  them  did  not,  however,  agree  to 
this  program  and,  at  the  risk  of  life,  notified  the  slave. 

This  poor-white  man  and  his  wife — living  from 
hand  to  mouth,  scorning  the  thousand-dollar  reward, 
hiding  and  feeding  this  hunted  slave  until  the  chase 
subsided — make  the  most  vivid  and  lasting  picture  of 
the  slavery  days'  experience  of  my  forbears.  It  is  the 
star  of  hope  in  the  night  of  oppression.  Civilization 
rests  upon  the  spirit  of  these  people — the  Golden  Rule 
incarnate — the  word  made  flesh. 

That  my  father's  life  won  such  a  friendship  is  more 
to  me  than  the  gnashing  teeth  of  a  defeated  and  cruel 
master.  So  I  feel  that  my  race  should  be  encouraged 
by  its  friends  rather  than  discouraged  by  its  enemies. 

The  fate  of  the  American  Negro  will  be  decided 
largely  by  people  who  do  not  and  can  not  personally 
know  the  facts,  but  are  dependent  upon  the  testimony 
of  others.  Is  it  too  much  to  ask  that  the  character,  the 
capability,  and  motives  of  the  witnesses  be  carefully 
scrutinized?  Is  it  unreasonable  to  ask  fair-minded 
people,  who  want  to  know  the  truth,  to  scrutinize  care 
fully  both  the  sincerity  and  the  sanity  of  a  man  who 
denounces  such  men  as  DuBois  and  Washington  as 
traitors  to  their  race,  and  quotes  approvingly  a  dis 
credited  Negro  preacher  who  "for  a  handful  of  silver" 
betrayed  his  race? 

The  American  public  is  bound  by  personal  interest 
and  the  welfare  of  civilization  to  find  out  the  truth 
about  the  Negro. 


266  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

I  introduce  first  Mr.  Wm.  Benjamin  Smith,  the 
ablest  of  the  anti-Negro  blancoids,4  who  admits  that 
"three-fourths  of  the  virtue,  culture,  and  intelligence 
of  the  United  States"  is  against  him,  and  that 
"England  has  no  word  of  sympathy,"  "Europe  looks 
on  with  amused  perplexity,"  and,  "worst  of  all,  the 
South  herself  appears  to  have  no  far-reaching  voice," 
on  his  side.  He  also  reluctantly  admits  that  Mr. 
Franz  Boas  is  not  only  our  friend,  but  "speaks  from 
the  pinnacle  of  Science."  In  the  face  of  these  handi 
caps,  he  seeks  by  "counter-plea"  of  racial  inferiority 
to  demolish  the  Negro's  claim  for  a  man's  chance  to 
fill  a  man's  place. 

I  leave  the  witness  without  comment  except  to  say, 
that  he  professes  to  be  a  democrat  and  to  believe  in  the 
rule  of  the  majority. 

I  call  next  the  noted  scientist,  Prof.  Boas,  just 
mentioned.  He  thus  deposes :  "There  is,  however,  no 
evidence  whatever  that  would  stigmatize  the  Negro  as 
of  weaker  build,  or  as  subject  to  inclinations  and 
powers  that  are  opposed  to  our  social  organization. 
An  unbiased  estimate  of  the  anthropological  evidence 
so  far  brought  forward  does  not  permit  us  to  counte 
nance  the  belief  in  a  racial  inferiority  which  would 
unfit  an  individual  of  the  Negro  race  to  take  his  part 
in  modern  civilization.  We  do  not  know  of  any  de 
mand  on  the  human  body  or  mind  in  modern  life  that 
anatomical  or  ethnological  evidence  would  prove  to  be 
beyond  the  powers  of  the  Negro."5 

I  will  next  introduce  Mr.  Arthur  J.  Barton,  Cor 
responding  Secretary  of  the  Education  Board  of  the 
Baptist  General  Convention  of  Texas.  Because  of  his 


4  The  antonym  of  the  etymological  monstrosity  negroid.    He  is  of 
course  as  far  from  actual  white  as  Mr.  DuBois  is  from  actual  black. 
Few  normal  human  beings  are  either. 

5  Franz  Boas,  "Mind  of  Primitive  Man." 


Personality   and   Criticism.  267 

extraordinary  qualifications  we  will  allow  the  witness 
full  latitude :- 

"Personal  words  are  not  quite  in  place  on  such 
occasions  as  this.  But,  owing  to  the  nature  of  my 
subject,  dealing  as  it  does  with  the  relation  of  the 
races,  you  will  cheerfully  indulge  me,  I  think,  in  a  word 
or  two  of  a  personal  nature.  I  speak  as  a  Southern 
man  to  Southern  men.  I  was  born  and  reared  in  the 
South ;  my  father  belonged  to  a  South  Carolina  slave- 
holding  family.  While  I,  myself,  was  born  and  reared 
in  Arkansas  and  was  not  in  constant  association  with 
the  Negroes  during  my  childhood,  I  have  nevertheless 
been  constantly  thrown  with  the  race  for  nearly  thirty 
years.  In  addition,  I  have  inherited  that  genuine  love 
for  the  Negro  that  was  cherished  in  the  bosom  of  the 
better  class  of  the  white  people  of  the  South  in  the 
olden  days.  I  speak,  therefore,  in  full  sympathy  and 
genuine  affection  for  the  Negroes.  I  have  visited  their 
religious  associations  and  conventions  in  almost  every 
State  in  the  South.  I  have  never  missed  an  opportun 
ity,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  to  speak  a  word  of 
hope  and  cheer  to  the  race  or  in  behalf  of  the  race. 
From  my  point  of  view,  therefore,  I  feel  quite  un- 
trammeled  in  speaking  of  the  white  man's  task  in  the 
uplift  of  the  race.  I  feel  equally  free  as  far  as  your 
attitude  is  concerned,  for  you  come  as  the  representa 
tives  of  the  best  element  of  the  white  people  of  the 
South.  Before  the  War  there  were  three  classes  of 
people  in  the  South:  the  first-class  white  folks  (most 
of  whom  owned  slaves),  the  negroes,  and  the  'po' 
white  trash'  (as  the  Negroes  were  accustomed  to  call 
the  less  frugal  element  among  the  whites).  When 
ever  you  hear  any  zvhite  man  of  Southern  ancestry 
abusing  the  Negro,  you  may  know  that  he  comes  from 
the  latter  element. 6  All  the  first-class  white  people 

6  Italics  mine. 


268  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

have  a  genuine  love  for  the  Negro.  Recognizing  you 
as  belonging  to  this  class,  and  knowing  your  senti 
ment,  I  feel  that  I  may  speak  with  the  greatest 
freedom. 

"As  expressing  my  own  feeling,  I  give  this  inci 
dent:  About  the  same  time  my  father  moved  from 
South  Carolina  to  Arkansas,  which  was  just  before 
the  War,  a  great-uncle  of  mine,  Col.  Wilson  Barton, 
together  with  the  other  members  of  the  family,  moved 
from  South  Carolina  to  Williamson  County,  Texas. 
They  carried  with  them  some  of  the  old  family 
servants. 

"A  few  years  ago  I  was  holding  evangelistic  meet 
ings  at  Liberty  Hill,  Williamson  County,  Tex.,  and 
those  colored  friends  were  much  interested  in  my  visit, 
coming  from  far  and  near  to  talk  with  me.  As  you 
know,  even  to  this  good  day,  the  crown  prince  of  a 
Negro's  heart  is  his  'young  master'  who  is  a  preacher. 
One  day  I  was  taking  dinner  with  a  cousin  in  the 
country.  One  of  these  descendants,  a  good-natured 
woman  of  ample  proportions,  was  assisting  my  cousin 
about  the  kitchen  and  dining-room.  After  dinner  she 
asked  me  to  take  a  seat  on  the  porch  near  the  kitchen- 
door,  so  that  as  she  passed  in  and  out  doing  her  work 
she  could  talk  to  me.  Some  of  the  children  of  the 
family  observed  the  situation  and  twitted  me  sharply 
about  my  sitting  out  there  talking  to  the  cook.  The 
good-natured  black  woman  shook  her  ample  sides  with 
laughter  and  said :  Tor,  yes,  honey,  cose  he  is.  Don't 
you  know  us  Bartons  is  all  kinfolks  anyhowr?'  That 
expressed  her  feeling  and  expresses  mine.  I  have  a 
feeling  of  kinship  for  the  Negro  that  is  nigh  to  the  ties 
of  blood.  As  far  back  as  I  can  remember,  my  child 
heart  glowed  with  enthusiasm  and  joy  as  I  heard  my 
father  tell  of  Jerry  and  York,  of  how  many  chestnut 
rails  they  could  cut  and  split  in  a  day,  and  of  what 


Personality   and  Criticism.  269 

mighty  tasks  they  could  do.  They  were  his  heroes; 
they  are  mine.  I  love  their  names,  their  memories. 
So  I  come  today  to  speak  to  you,  feeling  that  we,  the 
first-class  white  folks  of  the  South,  and  our  Negro 
neighbors  and  friends,  descendants  for  the  most  part 
of  our  old  family  servants,  are  bound  together  not  only 
by  the  indissoluble,  industrial,  commercial,  and  civic 
bonds  of  the  present  day,  but  by  many  of  the  tenderest 
and  sweetest  memories  of  the  past.  We  may,  there 
fore,  deal  in  the  utmost  frankness  with  every  phase  of 
the  relation  of  the  races."7 

Accepting  Mr.  Barton's  testimony  as  an  introduc 
tion  to  the  purposes  and  personnel  of  this  session  of  the 
Southern  Sociological  Congress,  I  introduce  without 
further  comment  the  following  witnesses : — 

Prof.  C.  H.  Brough8 :  "I  believe  that  by  the  rec 
ognition  of  the  fact  that  in  the  Negro  are  to  be  found 
the  essential  elements  of  human  nature,  capable 
of  conscious  evolution  through  education  and  eco 
nomic  and  religious  betterment,  we  will  be  led  at  last 
to  a  conception  of  a  world  unity,  whose  Author  and 
Finisher  is  God." 

Dr.  W.  D.  Weatherford9 :  "I  wish  to  make  clear 
in  the  very  beginning  that  the  same  type  of  agency 
which  can  improve  the  conditions  for  the  white  people 
can  also  improve  the  conditions  of  life  for  the  Negro. 
Humanity  is  humanity,  whether  the  color  be  white  or 
black,  and  I  know  no  fiat  of  God  that  makes  white  any 
more  valuable  as  a  color  or  any  easier  to  deal  with 
than  black.  Every  social  agency  which  is  working  for 
the  uplift  of  the  white  race  should  also  be  working  for 


7  Rev.  Arthur  T.  Barton,  "The  White  Man's  Task  in  the  Uplift  of 
the  Negro." 

8  Prof.  C.  H.  Brough,  Ph.D.,  University  of  Arkansas,  "Work  of 
Com.  of  Universities." 

9W.   D.  Weatherford,   Ph.D.,   Nashville,  Tenn.,   "How  to  Enlist 
Southern  Welfare  Agencies." 


270  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

the  uplift  of  the  colored  race,  unless  there  is  a  special 
branch  of  that  organization  working  for  the  Negroes." 

Prof.  Wm.  M.  Hunley10:  "The  present  economic 
status  of  the  Negro  shows  marvelous  advancement  and 
holds  great  promise." 

Prof.  J.  H.  DeLoach,  Ph.D.11:  "As  a  general 
thing  Negroes  are  easily  taught  and  can  be  led  to 
adopt  any  kind  of  information  in  their  practices  if  the 
teacher  is  in  sympathy  with  them  and  understands 
them." 

Prof.  E.  C.  Branson12:  "The  Negro  has  suffered 
from  the  zeal  of  retained  attorneys  for  preconceived 
opinions;  almost  as  much  from  indiscreet  friends  as 
from  hostile  critics.  The  skies  ought  to  be  cleared 
by  impersonal,  impartial  acquaintance  with  the  facts, 
whatever  they  are,  concerning  the  Negro  problems 
and  progress.  Many  good  people  in  the  South  stand 
hesitatingly  aloof  because  they  are  insufficiently  in 
formed  and  honestly  in  doubt  about  what  is  really  best 
for  the  Negro  and  the  community  in  which  he  lives." 

Prof.  Josiah  Morse13:  "The  Negro  is  a  human 
being,  and  modern  anthropology  has  shown  that  the 
differences  among  human  beings — anatomical,  physio 
logical,  and  mental — are  insignificant  as  compared 
with  their  fundamental  resemblances  and  identities. 
We  shall  certainly  not  need  a  Negro  science  of  medi 
cine.  The  things  that  breed  disease  among  the  whites 
—poverty,  ignorance,  overcrowding,  immorality,  alco 
holism,  insanitary  premises,  neglect,  and  malnutrition 
of  children,  etc. — will  breed  disease  with  equal  facility 


10  Prof.  Wm.  M.  Hunley,  Ph.D.,  University  of  Virginia,  "Economic 
Status  of  Negro." 

11  Prof.  DeLoach,  Ph.D.,  University  of  Georgia,  "Negro  as  Farmer." 

12  Prof.  E.  C.  Branson,  A.M.,  Pres.  State  Normal  School,  Athens, 
Ga.,  "Negro  Working  out  his  Own  Salvation." 

13  Prof.  Josiah  Morse,  Ph.D.,  University  of  South  Carolina,  "Social 
and  Hygienic  Condition  of  the  Negro." 


Personality   and   Criticism.  271 

among  the  Negroes.  And  we  may  rest  assured  that 
the  measures  and  remedies  that  prevent  and  cure  dis 
eases  among  the  whites  will  do  the  same  for  the 
blacks." 

Prof.  W.  O.  Scroggs14  :  "Our  hope  lies  in  further 
education  for  white  and  black,  in  co-operation  between 
the  best  elements  of  both  races,  in  the  greater  publicity 
for  those  wrhose  views  are  rational,  and  last,  but  not 
least,  in  the  development  of  an  infinite  amount  of 
patience.  Civic  progress  for  the  Negro  is  to  be 
secured  by  educational  and  economic  improvement 
rather  than  by  political  methods.  His  condition  as  a 
citizen  will  improve  with  his  economic  progress;  his 
economic  progress  is  dependent  upon  an  increase  of 
his  wants,  and  an  increase  of  his  wants  will  come  with 
better  education.  Where  the  white  man  is  guilty  of 
injustice  no  merely  external  reforms  will  suffice.  Such 
injustice  is  an  outward  sign  of  a  lack  of  internal  grace. 
There  must  be  a  reform  of  men's  souls.  Better  educa 
tion,  higher  moral  ideals,  a  general  awakening  of  mind 
and  spirit,  the  substitution  of  reason  for  prejudice  and 
tradition,  the  socialization  of  religion, — these  are  the 
fundamental  needs  of  the  hour.  Above  all,  we  must 
realize  that  as  a  race  we  cannot  live  wholly  unto  our 
selves;  that  if  the  black  man  is  sinking  we  are  not 
rising ;  that  if  he  is  going  backward  we  are  not  going 
forward;  and  finally,  that  no  social  regime  can  long 
endure  that  is  not  founded  on  justice." 

Rev.  John  Little15  :  "The  most  remarkable  thing 
in  connection  with  the  whole  work  is  the  fact  that  the 
white  people  of  this  community  have  volunteered  as 
teachers.  One  by  one,  men  and  women  from  Presby- 


14  Prof.  W.  O.  Scroggs,  PhD.,  University  of  Louisiana,  "Desirable 
Civic  Reforms  in  Treatment  of  the  Negro." 

15  Rev.  John   Little,   Louisville,   Ky.,  "Our  Church   Work   for  the 
Negro." 


American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

terian  and  other  evangelical  churches  in  the  city  have 
volunteered  their  services.  Our  sewing  classes  and 
cooking  classes  are  taught  by  white  women  who  have 
volunteered  to  give  one  afternoon  each  week.  Other 
men  and  women  volunteered  as  instructors  on  Sunday 
afternoon  in  the  Sunday  school.  Many  of  these  people 
rarely  see  each  other  because  they  come  on  different 
days,  but  their  hearts  and  services  are  united  in  their 
ministry  to  the  needy  people.  A  nobler  group  than  the 
seventy  consecrated  men  and  women  who  are  cheer 
fully  donating  their  services  to  this  work  could  not  be 
found  in  the  whole  land." 

Mrs.  J.  D.  Hammond16:  "Long  ago  an  old  Eng 
lish  bishop  said  of  the  children  in  London's  slums  that 
they  were  not  born  into  the  world,  but  damned  into  it. 
It  is  an  old  trick  of  the  privileged  class — this  allowing 
children  to  be  damned  into  the  world.  Damnation  is 
not  particular  about  the  color  line;  it  is  as  swift  for 
black  as  for  white. 

"Our  duty  to  the  Negro  is  as  clear  as  day.  It  is  the 
duty  of  strength  to  weakness,  the  world  around;  of 
knowledge  to  ignorance ;  of  the  privileged  to  those  shut 
out;  plain,  simple,  human  duty  that  cuts  through 
prejudice  and  sophistry  as  a  sword  cuts  threads.  We 
must  give  him  justice  and  opportunity;  and  we  have 
not  given  them  yet." 

I  will  next  call  attention  to  a  group  of  witnesses. 
To  save  time  I  will  not  have  them  testify  individually, 
but  invite  the  closest  scrutiny  of  their  character,  con 
duct,  and  capabilities.  I  refer  to  the  Northern  and 
Southern  white  people,  men  and  women,  doing  educa 
tional  and  religious  work  among  the  colored  people. 

These  people  are  not  only  sound  in  morals  and 
upright  in  conduct,  but  clear  in  brains  and  capable  of 


16  Mrs.  J.  D.  Hammond,  Augusta,  Ga.,  "The  Test  of  Civilization.' 


HARRIET  TUB  MAN 


CALLED  THE  MODES'"  OF  HER  PEOPL 
DUPING  THE  CIVIL  WAR,  WITH  PARE 
'COURAGE.  SHE  LED  OVERTHREE  HUNDREf 
NEGROES  UP  FROM  SLAVERY  TO  FREEDO 
AND  RENDERED  INVALUABLE  SLRvJCE 
AS  NURSE  AND  SPY, 


WITH  IMPLICIT  TRUST  IN  GOD 
SHE  BRAVED  EVERY  DANGER  AND 
OVERCAME  EVERY  OBSTACLE,  WITHAL 
SHE  POSSESSED  EXTRAORDINARY 
FORESIGHT  AND  JUDGMENT  SO  THAT 
SHE  TRUTHFULLY  'SAID- 

"ON  MY  UNDERGROUND  RAILROAD 

i  NEBBER  RUN  MY  TRAIN  OFF  DE  TRACK 

AND  I  NEBBER  LOS" A  PASSENGER: 

THIS  TABLET  IS  ERECTED 

BY  TH  E  CITIZENS  OF  AUBURN 

i-  -;-I-9-i  4  •• 


Harriet  Tubman  tablet. 


Personality   and   Criticism.  273 

the  highest  efficiency  in  other  callings.  Such  men  as 
John  Braden,  of  Central  Tennessee  College;  Erasmus 
M.  Cravath,  of  Fisk  University;  Samuel  Chapman 
Armstrong,  of  Hampton  Institute;  Edmund  Asa 
Ware,  of  Atlantic  University;  Daniel  W.  Phillips,  of 
Roger  Williams,  and  G.  W.  Hubbard,  of  Meharry 
Medical  College,  were  born  leaders  and  would  have 
attracted  attention  in  any  field  of  endeavor.  That  men 
of  such  ability  should  not  only  become  converted  to  a 
cause,  but  earnestly  espouse  it  and  give  their  lives  for 
it  zvithout  reivard,  and  in  the  face  of  ostracism  and 
contumely,  ought  certainly  to  commend  that  cause  to 
the  respect  of  their  countrymen,  and  to  the  considerate 
judgment  of  mankind.  Not  only  did  the  Negro  win 
the  love  and  respect  of  this  noble  band,  but  their  chil 
dren  after  them.17  The  son  of  Fisk's  first  president, 
though  a  successful  lawyer  in  a  metropolitan  city,  is 
not  too  busy  to  serve  on  the  trustee  board  of  the  school 
his  father  built.  The  president  of  Atlanta  University 
is  the  son  of  its  founder. 

That  the  Negroes  were  susceptible  to  culture  and 
amenable  to  kindness  is  shown  by  their  devotion  to  the 
persons  and  doctrines  of  these  teachers.  Rarely  was 
one  disobeyed  and  never  was  one  dishonored:  That 
miscegenation  grew  not  in  this  atmosphere  of  kindness 
and  culture  shows  the  security  of  racial  integrity  in  an 
atmosphere  of  racial  self-respect. 

Let  us  call  Bishop  Haygood,  whose  testimony  may 
explain  this  fact18:  "I  have  seen  the  Negroes  in  all 
their  religious  moods,  in  their  most  death-like  trances, 
and  in  their  wildest  outbursts  of  excitement.  I  have 
preached  to  them  in  town  and  city,  and  on  the  planta 
tions.  I  have  been  their  pastor,  baptized  their  chil- 


17  Read  inscription  on  Tubman  tablet. 

18  Bishop    Atticus    G.    Haygood,    Atlanta,    Ga.,    quoted    by    Bishop 
Thirkield. 

18 


274  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

dren,  and  buried  their  dead.  In  the  reality  of 
religion  among  them  I  have  the  most  entire  confidence, 
nor  can  I  ever  doubt  it  while  religion  is  a  reality  to 


me." 


III. 

There  is  no  alternative  between  the  growth  of 
what  Mr.  Albert  Pike,19  of  Alexandria,  Va.,  in  1875 
called  "Negrophily"  and  the  failure  of  civilization. 
There  is  no  brotherhood  of  man  with  the  black  man 
excluded.  Justice  only  to  white  men  means,  in  the  last 
analysis,  justice  to  nobody.  There  is  no  middle 
ground.  Justice  and  fraternity  are  for  all  or  for  none. 
Civilization  must  become  world-wide  or  perish.  The 
doctrine  that  led  Germany  to  rape  Belgium  will  justify 
the  undoing  of  Germany  by  some  greater  power.  By 
this  greed  strife  is  continuous  and  inevitable;  some 
times  kinetic,  sometimes  latent,  but  always  potential 
and  immanent.  Ossa  is  piled  on  Pelion  and  Pelion  is 
piled  on  Ossa  till  all  tumble  into  inextricable  ruin. 
Peace  can  only  reign  where  justice  is  secure,  and  jus 
tice  is  only  secure  when  available  to  all.  Fate  has 
given  man  the  alternative  of  living  or  dying  with  his 
brother.  She  has  permitted  him  to  take  his  choice, 
but  has  steadfastly  refused  to  permit  separation.  By 
pestilence,  by  famine,  by  war,  by  the  rise  and  fall  of 
nations,  by  every  movement  of  matter  or  mind,  from 
the  simplest  monad  to  "the  stars  in  their  courses" ;  by 
revelation,  by  history,  by  great  men,  by  great  women, 
by  great  events,  nature  has  everywhere,  at  all  times 
and  under  all  circumstances,  steadfastly  refused  to 
alter  this  decision. 

All  reason  and  all  human  experience  unite  in  the 

19  Letter  of  Gen.  Albert  Pike,  Sovereign  Grand  Master  A.  &  A.  Rite 
on  Negro  Masonry. 


Personality   and   Criticism.  275 

judgment  that  the  American  white  man  and  the 
American  black  man  may  live  together  or  may  die 
together;  but  they  will  do  neither  separately.  If  the 
Negro  dies,  the  white  man  will  perish  with  him ;  if  the 
white  man  lives,  the  Negro  will  survive  with  him. 
To  deny  this  is  to  deny  all  history  and  all  experience ; 
to  ignore  it  is  to  make  a  futile  attempt  to  repeal  a 
natural  law. 

The  world  is  undergoing  a  change  on  the  color 
question.20  The  great  European  War  may  evolve  a 
complete  metamorphosis  on  this  subject. 

I  now  call  Mr.  Saint  Nihal  Singh21 :  "As  the  re 
ports  of  the  terrible  carnage  that  is  taking  place  on 
the  continent  of  Europe  reach  me,  day  by  day,  I  sit  and 
ponder  whether  the  human  blood  that  is  being  so 
wantonly  shed  is  going  to  wash  away  some  of  the 
prejudices  that  divide  men  of  different  colors. 

"The  mere  employment  of  black  and  brown  troops 
on  European  soil  implies  a  revolution  in  the  attitude 
of  the  white  man  toward  the  colored  races.  Nothing 
shows  this  transformation  so  significantly  as  the  inner 
history  of  the  Boer  War,  sedulously  kept  from  the 
knowledge  of  most  people.  It  was  proposed  then  to 
convoy  troops  from  India  to  fight  in  South  Africa; 
but  the  idea  had  to  be  abandoned,  because  Hindoo- 
Stan's  swarthy  sons  were  considered  not  good  enough 
to  fight  white  men. 

"It  happened  in  this  way:  Lord  Curzon,  at  that 
time  the  Viceroy  and  Governor-general  of  India,  knew 
that  the  South  African  veldt  was  much  like  the  plains 
of  the  Indian  Peninsula,  and  he  considered  that  the 
Indian  cavalrymen  would  be  able  to  distinguish  them 
selves  fighting  on  South  African  soil.  He  therefore 
proposed  to  the  Prime  Minister  of  England,  at  that 

20  See  note  at  end  of  chapter. 

21  See  Southern  Workman,  April,  1915. 


276  American  Civilization  arid  the  Negro. 

time  Mr.  Balfour,  that  Indian  troops  should  be  taken 
to  the  field  of  battle  to  assist  the  British  in  putting 
down  the  obstreperous  Boers.  The  authorities  in 
England,  however,  would  not  listen  to  such  a  proposi 
tion.  I  am  informed  by  an  officer  \vhose  authority  is 
above  question  that  this  attitude  was  largely  dictated 
by  Emperor  William  of  Germany,  who  was  scandal 
ized  at  the  idea  of  putting  colored  men  against  whites, 
and  threatened  to  go  to  the  aid  of  the  Boers  if  the 
British  adopted  such  a  course  of  action.  Be  this  as  it 
may,  the  whole  plan  fell  through,  and  the  best  that 
could  be  done  under  the  circumstances  was  to  trans 
port  the  British  garrison  from  India  to  South  Africa, 
trusting  to  the  loyalty  of  the  Indians  during  the  ab 
sence  of  the  troops  not  to  make  any  trouble. 

"And  now,  less  than  fifteen  years  later,  over  two 
hundred  thousand  Indian  soldiers  are  fighting  in 
Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa;  side  by  side  with  British, 
French,  and  Belgian  troops,  against  the  Germans! 
Besides  these  Asiatic  soldiers  there  are  also  African 
troops,  or  Senegalese,  as  they  are  called,  who  have 
been  brought  over  by  the  French  from  their  posses 
sions  in  Africa  to  help  them  fight  the  Germans."  .  .  . 

Many  instances  show  that  "the  attitude  which  the 
French,  British,  Belgian,  and  Russian  peoples  are 
assuming  toward  the  dark-skinned  men  who  are 
helping  them  is  that  of  a  comrade  for  a  comrade.  It 
is  not  that  of  a  superior  for  an  inferior  race.  The  life 
and  death  struggle  in  which  Europeans  are  at  present 
engaged  has  obliterated,  not  only  for  the  time,  but  let 
us  hope,  forever,  the  old  feeling  of  superiority  and 
inferiority.  The  white  and  colored  men  have  been 
thrown  into  each  other's  arms.  Fighting  shoulder  to 
shoulder  they  are  realizing  that  they  have  a  com 
munity  of  interest  which  they  have  never  compre 
hended  before." 


Personality   and   Criticism.  277 


IV. 

I  will  conclude  this  chapter  by  introducing  some 
testimony  to  show  the  .similarity  of  the  present  dis 
cussion  of  the  Negro's  citizenship  to  the  discussion  of 
his  emancipation  that  preceded  the  War.  Let  us  have 
first  the  psychology  of  the  situation  :— 

Rev.  Wm.  A.  Smith22 :  "A  false  principle  may  be 
honestly  believed  by  minds  which,  at  the  same  time, 
adopt  antagonistic  principles  that  are  essential  truths ; 
but  owing  to  various  causes  calculated  to  confuse  the 
ideas,  the  inconsistency  is  not  perceived.  Now,  in 
such  a  case  as  this,  the  principle  of  essential  truth  is 
really  brought  into  practical  antagonism  with  essen 
tial  error,  and  that  in  the  same  minds  and  upon  the 
same  subject.  And  as  truth  is  more  powerful  than 
error  in  the  minds  of  all  honest  people,  the  truth  holds 
its  way  in  practical  results,  in  defiance  of  false  prin 
ciple,  which  is  relatively  powerless  in  the  presence  of 
truth.  The  antagonism  between  the  false  principle 
and  the  practical  results  of  things  may  be  perceived 
and  acknowledged ;  whilst  the  antagonism  of  the  false 
principle  with  the  true  principle,  which  underlies  and 
produces  these  practical  results  by  a  law  of  its  own 
operation,  is  not  only  not  perceived,  but  actually  denied 
to  exist.  Now,  so  long  as  this  false  principle  is 
honestly  believed  to  be  true,  and  clearly  perceived  to 
be  in  conflict  with  the  practice,  but  not  perceived  to  be 
in  conflict  with  other  and  more  latent  principles,  which 
are  in  themselves  truths,  and  admitted  to  be  truths, 
and  which  produce  this  practice,  just  so  long  will  this 
false  principle  wage  war,  by  the  simple  law  of  belief, 
against  this  practice.  But  as  this  war  is  not  suffi- 

22  "Philosophy  and  Practice  of  Slavery,  as  Exhibited  in  the  Institu 
tion  of  Domestic  Slavery  in  the  United  States,  with  the  Duties  of 
Masters  to  Slaves,"  by  William  A.  Smith,  D.D.,  Pres.  Randolph-Macon 
College  and  Professor  of  Moral  and  Intellectual  Philosophy. 


278  American  Civilization  and  I  lie  Negro. 

ciently  potent  to  overturn  this  practice,  because  it  is 
founded  on  the  belief  of  principles  true  in  themselves, 
the  practice  will  remain;  and  so  long  as  this  false 
belief  remains,  the  strife  with  the  practice  must 
remain.  Hence,  if  this  be  the  state  of  the  public  mind 
in  this  country  on  the  subject  of  African  slavery,  and 
it  finds  no  efficient  remedy,  we  can  see  nothing  await 
ing  us  but  interminable  strife — men  against  them 
selves — the  country  against  the  country !  We  forbear 
to  sketch  the  future." 

Substitute  "Afro- American  citizenship"  for  "Afri 
can  slavery,"  and  you  have  an  exact  statement  of  the 
case  today.  Excuse  this  interruption. 

Proceed  Mr.  Smith:  "In  maintaining  the  institu 
tion  of  domestic  slavery,  we  are  either  right  or  wrong, 
in  a  moral  point  of  view.  We  ask  no  mere  apology  on 
the  score  of  necessity,  and  we  can  certainly  claim  none 
on  the  ground  of  ignorance. 

"We  are  told  that  all  men  believe  slavery  to  be 
wrong  in  principle ;  that  is,  wrong  in  itself !  and  that 
all  men  feel  that  it  is  wrong !  And  certain  it  is,  there 
is  more  truth  than  fiction  in  all  this !  It  is  strictly  true, 
as  to  the  citizens  of  the  so-called  free  States.  The 
same  doctrine  is  not  without  advocates  at  the  South; 
whilst  many  more,  as  we  have  before  stated,  who  may 
not  be  said  to  believe  it,  are  nevertheless  often  sub 
jects  of  painful  misgivings.  They  fear  it  may  be 
true.  .  .  .  The  men  of  whom  I  speak,  both 
North  and  South,  are  candid,  honest  men." 

Yet  this  gentleman  believed  that  Thos.  Jefferson 
and  the  "candid  men,  North  and  South,"  were  all 
wrong.  He  proves  to  his  own  satisfaction  the  correct 
ness  of  the  principles  of  slavery. 

Mr.  James  Williams23:    "Let  not  the  honest  and 

23  "Letters  on  Slavery  from  the  Old  World,"  etc.,  by  James  Wil 
liams,  Late  United  States  Minister  to  Turkey.     (1861.) 


Personality   and   Criticism.  279 

well-meaning  opponents  of  slavery  delude  themselves 
or  others  into  the  belief  that  there  can  be  any  essential 
modification  of  the  existing  relations  between  the 
whites  and  the  blacks,  while  they  inhabit  a  common 
territory. 

"When  Great  Britain  introduced  Africans  into  her 
American  Colonies,  she  designed  that  their  enslave 
ment  should  be  perpetual. 

"Any  change  in  the  relative  condition  of  the 
European  and  African  races  in  America  would  be  fatal 
to  both." 

One  more  question,  Mr.  Williams.  How  long 
have  the  colored  people  been  in  this  country? 

"Upon  the  establishment  of  the  independence  of 
the  United  States,  about  one-fifth  of  the  population,  in 
round  numbers,  were  slaves.  .  .  .  These  Afri 
cans  were  totally  unfit,  by  nature,  habit,  and  educa 
tion,  to  enter  upon  the  discharge  of  the  responsible 
duties  of  free  citizens. 

"Soon  after  the  establishment  of  the  new  govern 
ment,  the  Congress  enacted  a  law  fixing  upon  a  period, 
not  remote,  after  which  no  slaves  should  be  introduced 
from  abroad  into  any  State  or  Territory  of  the 
Republic.  Of  the  nearly  four  millions  of  slaves  now 
held  as  such  in  the  United  States,  not  five  hundred 
have  been  introduced  in  contravention  to  that 
enactment." 

Mr.  John  Fletcher24  :  "Philosophy  knows  no  obli 
gation  that  binds  one  man  to  another  without  an 
equivalent.  If  one  man  could  be  subjected  to  another 
who  is  not  bound  to  render  anything  in  return,  it  would 
be  subversive  to  good  morals  and  political  justice. 
Such  a  relation  cannot  exist,  only  so  far  as  to  reach 
the  immediate  death  of  the  subjected.  But  it  has  been 


24  "Studies  on   Slavery,  in  Easy  Lessons,"  etc.,  by  John  Fletcher, 
Louisiana,     (1852.) 


280  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

the  error  of  some  good  men  to  suppose  that  slavery 
presented  such  a  case.  It  has  been  their  misfortune 
also  to  receive  the  following  succedaneums  as  axioms 
in  search  for  truth: — 

"  'All  men  are  born  equal/ 

"  The  rights  of  men  are  inalienable/ 

"  'No  man  has  power  to  alienate  a  natural  right/ 

"  'No  man  can  become  property/ 
'No  man  can  own  property  in  another/ 

"  'The  conscience  is  a  distinct  mental  faculty/ 

"  'The  conscience  infallibly  distinguishes  between 
right  and  wrong/ 

"  'No  man  is  under  obligation  to  obey  any  law 
when  his  conscience  dictates  it  to  be  wrong/ 

"  'The  conscience  empowers  any  man  to  nullify  any 
law ;  because  the  conscience  is  a  part  and  parcel  of  the 
Divine  mind/ 

"  'Slavery  is  wholly  founded  on  force/ 

"  'Slavery  originates  in  the  power  of  the  strong 
over  the  weak/ 

"  'Slavery  disqualifies  a  man  to  fulfill  the  great 
object  of  his  being/ 

"  The  doctrines  of  the  Bible  forbid  slavery/ 

"  There  is  no  word,  either  in  the  Old  or  New 
Testament,  which  expresses  the  idea  of  slave  or 
slavery/ 

"  'Slavery  places  its  subjects  beyond  moral  and 
legal  obligation ;  therefore,  it  can  never  be  a  legal  or 
moral  relation/ 

"  'Slavery  is  inconsistent  with  the  moral  nature  of 
man/ 

"  To  hold  in  slavery  is  inconsistent  with  the  pres 
ent  state  of  morals  and  religion/ 

"  'Slavery  is  contrary  to  the  will  of  God/ 

"  'No  man  can  hold  a  slave,  and  be  a  Christian/ 

"Averments  of  this  order  are  quite  numerous. 


Personality   and   Criticism.  281 

Fanatics  receive  them;  and  some  others  do  not  dis 
tinguish  them  from  truths." 

The  intelligent  sentiment  of  Western  civilization 
is  today  overwhelmingly  for  genuine  democracy,  as  it 
was  in  1850  in  favor  of  emancipation.  Every  man 
should  be  dealt  with  according  to  his  character  and 
not  according  to  his  color.  Are  we  going  to  repeat  the 
blunders  of  those  days  ? 

In  1851  the  publishers  of  Mr.  Fletcher's  masterful 
"Studies  on  Slavery"  lamented  "that  a  general  league 
against  the  institution  of  African  slavery  has  been 
entered  into  and  consummated  between  most  of  the 
civilized  nations  of  the  earth,  and  public  opinion  in 
many  of  the  sister  States  of  our  own  National  Union 
has  taken  the  same  direction." 

How  like  the  words  of  Mr.  William  Benjamin 
Smith  in  I9O5!25  Then  the  opponents  of  emancipa 
tion  were  entrenched  in  power  as  the  opponents  of 
civil  rights  are  now.  The  moral  forces  of  the  nation 
were  then  in  a  political  minority  as  now.  But  slavery 
fell! 

From  the  misty  mountain-top  of  antiquity  the  hor 
rid  form  of  tyranny  leers  adown  the  valley  of  the  ages, 
but  his  expectations  have  ever  vanished  like  bubbles 
blown  from  soap;  for  mankind  finally  hears  the  testi 
mony  for  justice  and  liberty,  which  throughout  the 
ages  has  been  borne  by  "a  great  cloud  of  witnesses." 

A  fond  devotion  to  the  mistaken  customs  of  the 
past  is  all  that  prevents  the  South  from  taking  the 
lead  in  the  advancement  of  this  nation. 

Since  so  much  disturbance  was  created  by  a  Negro 
holding  the  World's  heavyweight  championship,  it 
will  not  be  out  of  place  to  introduce  as  a  witness  the 
"white  hope"  who  recently  restored  the  belt  to  the 
white  race.  I  quote  from  a  recent  article  in  a  New 

25  See  page  266. 


282  American  Cw&SOiion  and  the  Negro. 

York  daily,  entitled,  "Willard  Tells  Why  He  Will  Not 
Fight  Another  Negro/' 

After  declaring  all  the  heavyweights  not  to  be  in 
his  class,  he  says:  "But  this  is  my  real  reason — a 
championship  fight  between  a  black  man  and  a  white 
man  makes  bad  blood  between  the  races. 

"I  am  not  saying  this  in  a  mean  way.  I  am  not 
excusing  white  men  for  feeling  that  way.  I  think  it 
shows  ignorance.  But  lots  of  white  men  did  feel  that 
way.  Who  doesn't  remember  all  that  sickening  'white 
hope'  business? 

"That's  why  I  am  going  to  draw  the  color  line.  I 
say  this  because  I  don't  want  anybody  to  think  that 
I'm  doing  it  from  any  mean,  dirty  little  prejudice. 

"It  isn't  race  or  color  that  counts.  It's  brains.  A 
sober,  decent  Chinaman  looks  better  to  me  than  a 
drunken  bum  of  an  American.  A  Negro  who  uses  his 
intelligence  is  a  finer  man  than  a  white  man  who  soaks 
his  mind  in  a  whisky  glass. 

"Some  of  the  greatest  fighters  in  the  history  of  the 
ring  have  been  black  men.  And  I  want  to  say  that 
they  have  always  showed  up  as  game  and  as  square 
as  white  fighters.  A  hundred  years  ago  the  Jack  John 
son  of  the  ring  was  a  big  black  named  Molineaux. 
And  the  sole  thing  that  kept  him  from  being  champion 
was  a  dishonest  trick  played  by  white  men. 

"We've  also  had  some  mighty  great  Negro  fighters 
in  our  own  day.  They  didn't  make  them  better  than 
Peter  Jackson  in  his  prime,  and  Joe  Wolcott  was  cer 
tainly  some  terror. 

"And  when  you  are  talking  of  champions,  what 
about  George  Dixon?  I  don't  suppose  any  more  in 
telligent  boy  ever  drew  on  a  glove.  The  same  goes  for 
Joe  Cans.  Both  of  them,  they  tell  me,  were  quiet- 
mannered,  well-behaved  lads,  and  far  more  of  a  credit 
to  the  ring  than  many  of  the  white  fighters  they  met." 


Personality   and   Criticism.  283 

After  giving  many  reminiscences  of  the  ring,  illus 
trating  the  fact  that  fighting  ability  is  not  dependent 
upon  race,  he  summed  up  his  opinions  about  race 
prejudice  in  the  following  words  :— 

"I  just  mention  these  things  to  show  how  foolish 
we  all  are  when  it  comes  to  thinking  that  one  race  is 
better  than  another.  Or  that  it  proves  anything  when 
a  man  of  one  race  whips  a  man  of  another  race. 
Everything  depends  on  the  man.  And  what  the  man 
amounts  to  depends  on  his  brains. "26 


26  I  fully  agree  with  the  following  comment  of  James  W.  Johnson, 
contributing  editor  of  the  New  York  Age:  "Those  are  words  you 
would  not  expect  from  a  prize  fighter ;  and  it  is  exactly  for  that  reason 
that  we  reproduce  them  here.  If  they  had  been  said  by  a  college  presi 
dent  they  would  not  be  nearly  so  important.  For,  in  the  first  place, 
everybody  expects  a  real  college  president  to  talk  like  that;  and,  in  the 
second  place,  what  real  college  presidents  say  reaches  comparatively  few 
people;  and  they  would  be  the  kind  of  people  who,  if  they  had  strong 
racial  prejudices,  would  be  rather  ashamed  to  assert  them,  at  least  forci 
bly.  But  what  the  champion  prize  fighter  of  the  world  says  in  a  widely 
circulated  newspaper  reaches  a  great  mass  of  people  who  not  only  have 
racial  prejudices,  but  boast  of  the  fact.  And  what  he  says  will  carry 
more  weight  with  them  than  the  words  of  all  the  college  presidents  in 
the  country." 


"Gentlemen,  when  you  trust  fully  in  the  democratic  prin 
ciple  that  every  man  is  entitled  to  one  vote,  and  when  no  man 
fears  to  have  that  vote  counted,  there  will  be  less  danger  of 
the  continued  control  of  ignorance  over  intelligence  than 
there  is  when  resort  is  had  to  any  other  method;  and 
only  when  such  is  the  rule  will  free  institutions  be  fully 
established. 

"Liberty  and  justice  shall  surely  govern  this  fair 
land.  .  .  . 

"I  had  read  the  Scriptures  where  it  is  written  that  men 
should  convert  their  swords  into  ploughshares  and  their 
spears  into  pruning-hooks ;  but  in  your  neighboring  city  of 
Chattanooga  I  also  saw  the  battery  that  had  belched  forth 
fire  and  death  converted  into  a  fountain  of  living  water  to 
nourish  the  new  industry  of  the  New  South. 

"As  you  convert  the  darkness  of  oppression  and  slavery 
to  liberty  and  justice,  so  shall  you  be  judged  by  men  and  by 
Him  who  created  all  the  nations  of  the  earth." — HOWARD 
ATKINSON,  "The  Basis  for  Prosperity  for  the  New  South," 
in  the  Senate  Chamber,  Atlanta,  Ga.,  1880. 


(284) 


CHAPTER  XII. 

WHAT  HAS  THE  AMERICAN  NEGRO  DONE? 

WHAT  OUGHT  HE  TO  DO? 

WHAT  WILL  HE  DO? 

THE  Negro's  civil  and  political  rights  and  his 
racial  relation  to  the  public  weal  are  the  pressing  and 
perplexing  phases  of  the  Negro  problem.  Therefore 
in  answering  these  questions  I  will  limit  myself  to 
those  phases  of  racial  conduct  that  reflect  racial 
tendencies  or  touch  the  general  welfare. 


A. 

The  Negro  has  met  the  fundamental  prerequisite 
of  a  successful  career.  He  has  stayed  on  the  earth. 
Whether  in  slavery  or  in  freedom,  he  has  increased 
and  multiplied.  While  his  relative  number  has 
diminished,  his  absolute  number  has  increased.  At 
the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War  he  was  one-fifth  of 
the  total  population;  he  is  now  less  than  one-tenth; 
yet  the  four  millions  in  1860  are  now  ten  millions. 
The  peculiar  hexiology1  of  the  Negro  has  enabled  him 
to  thrive  in  all  climates  and  live  among  all  peoples. 

Born  on  the  earliest  dawn  of  time, 

He  will  be  till  time  is  o'er ; 
He  has  sung  his  songs  in  every  clime 

And  dwelt  on  every  shore. 

If  the  Negro  has  made  little  history  directly,  he 
has  made  a  good  deal  indirectly ;  failing  to  write  him 
self,  he  has  made  the  other  fellow  write.  The  annals 


1  See  definition  of  this  word,  Chapter  X,  page  228. 

(285) 


286  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

of  the  human  race  contain  no  parallel  to  the  great 
Civil  War  fought  in  this  country  about  the  Negro's 
condition. 

The  Negro  has  been  grateful  to  his  friends,  for 
giving  to  his  ene lilies,  and  has  frequently  disappointed 
the  prophets. 

B. 

A  great  deal  has  been  said  about  Reconstruction 
and  the  Negro  in  politics;  yet  the  following  historical 
facts  stand  out  to  the  Negro's  credit : — 

"He  has  accepted  his  freedom2  in  the  spirit  of 
those  who  bestowed  it ;  that  is,  limited  by,  and  only  by, 
the  civil  and  political  rights  and  duties  of  American 
citizenship  equally  devoid  of  special  privileges  and 
special  restrictions/' 

"The  freedman  never  by  legislation  removed  the 
penalties  from  anything  that  the  world  at  large  calls  a 
crime,  and  here  it  may  be  added  that  he  never  put  upon 
the  statute  book  a  law  hostile  to  the  universal  enjoy 
ment  of  American  liberty.  In  the  darkest  day  of  his 
power  he  established  the  public-school  system." 

"The  Negroes  never  did  and  do  not  now  draw  a 
strict  color  line  in  politics.  Even  in  reconstruction 
days,  when  everything  favored  Negro  supremacy,  the 
colored  man  generally  entrusted  the  public  offices  of 
county  and  State  to  the  white  man." 

"If  the  Negroes  are  too  ignorant  to  fill  the  offices 
themselves,  surely  no  better  testimony  than  this  to 
their  wisdom  and  public  spirit  could  be  asked  for." 

Let  us  face  the  facts.  Such  phrases  as  "Negro 
domination,"  "The  political  supremacy  of  the  Negro," 
"A  black  oligarchy  at  the  South,"  "To  Africanize  the 
States  of  the  South,"  etc.,  all  belong  to  the  hysterics  of 


2  See  page  26. 


What  Has  the  American  Negro  Done?  287 

the  subject,  and  can  be  at  once  dismissed  by  reasonable 
investigators  today. 

"Whatever  may  be  said  of  Sumner,  Stevens,  and 
the  men  who  gathered  around  them,  they  were  not  a 
herd  of  perfect  fools  with  a  total  lack  of  foresight." 

Their  object  was:  "To  put  race  rule  of  all  sorts 
under  fobt,  and  to  set  up  the  common  rule  of  all," — or 
rather,  "the  consent  of  all  to  the  rule  of  a  minority  the 
choice  of  the  majority,  frequently  appealed  to  without 
respect  of  persons." 

In  other  words,  they  sought  to  establish  a  free 
democracy.  They  were  right  in  purpose,  whatever 
their  errors  in  method. 

In  all  candor,  "this  scheme  was  never  allowed  a 
fair  trial  in  any  of  the  once-seceding  States." 

There  are  "impersonal  public  rights  which  belong 
to  every  man  because  he  is  a  man,  and  with  which  race 
and  its  real  or  imagined  antagonisms  have  nothing  to 
do.  .  .  .  There  is  a  Negro  question  which  be 
longs  to  private  society  and  morals  and  to  the  in 
dividual  conscience;  the  question  what  to  do  to  and 
with  the  Negro  within  that  realm  of  our  own  private 
choice  where  public  law  does  not  and  dare  not  come. 
But  the  Negro  puestion  which  appeals  to  the  nation, 
to  the  laws,  and  to  legislation,  is  only,  and  is  bound 
to  be  only,  the  question  of  public,  civil,  and  political 
rights" 

The  acceptance  of  this  truth  is  the  soul  of  democ 
racy  and  its  denial  is  the  spirit  of  slavery. 

The  difficulties  of  the  problem  are  persistently  and 
immeasurably  increased  by  "a  recriminative  entangle 
ment  of  these  two  matters,  one  entirely  within,  and  the 
other  entirely  beyond,  the  province  of  legislation." 

Governor  Colquit,  of  Georgia,  struck  the  nail 
squarely  on  the  head  more  than  twenty  years  ago  when 
he  said,  "Friendly  relations  habitually  exist  between 


American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

our  white  and  black  citizens,  and  are  never  disturbed 
except  on  those  occasions  when  the  exigencies  of 
party  politics  call  for  an  agitation  of  race  prejudices. 

"The  question  of  the  Negro's  entrance  into  private 
white  society,  we  again  protest,  is  entirely  outside  the 
the  circle  of  his  civil  rights." 

I  know  my  people,  their  hopes,  their  fears,  their 
aspirations,  and  their  desires;  and  from  my  youth  up 
I  have  preferred  a  discreet  silence  to  false  or  dis 
honorable  speech.  With  all  candor  and  earnestness  I 
say  to  the  American  public :  the  Negro  has  no  desire 
to  break  over  social  barriers.  In  this  regard  he  is,  if 
possible,  more  strongly  prepossessed  in  favor  of  his 
own  than  the  white  man.  In  these  matters  the  Negro 
is  not  only  pleased  but  happy  to  work  out  his  oivn 
equivalent  rights.  But  in  civil,  political,  and  econom 
ical  matters  the  Negro  insists,  and  for  the  good  of  the 
country  ought  to  insist,  upon  equal,  not  equivalent, 
rights. 

"Equal  civil  rights  inhere  in  the  individual  and  by 
virtue  of  individual  conditions  and  conduct.  Equiva 
lent  civil  rights  are  fictitiously  vested  in  classes  and 
without  regard  to  individual  conditions  and  conduct. 

"Politics  is  what  we  do  or  propose  to  do  in  and  for 
the  various  relations  of  public  society.  What  do  the 
American  white  people  want  ?  Must  the  average  men 
tal  and  moral  caliber  of  the  whole  Negro  race  in 
America  equal  that  of  the  white  race  before  any  Negro 
is  entitled  to  the  civil  and  political  standing  decreed 
to  all  citizens  of  the  United  States  except  the  criminal 
and  insane  ?  Shall  the  Negro,  through  the  domain  of 
civil  rights,  enjoy  impersonal  and  individual  considera 
tion,  or  be  subjected  to  merely  a  class  treatment? 

"The  popular  assumption  that  a  certain  antag 
onism  between  the  white  and  black  races  is  natural, 
inborn,  ineradicable,  has  never  been  scientifically 


What  PI  as  the  American  Negro  Done?  289 

proven.  Even  if  it  were,  that  would  not  necessarily 
fix  a  complete  and  sufficient  rule  of  conduct.  To  be 
governed  merely  by  instincts  is  pure  savagery.  .  .  . 
"Why  then,  in  strictly  public  relations,  should  not 
this  expensive  color-line  be  removed  and  the  Negro 
given  treatment  based  on  individual  merit  ?" 


C. 

Civilization  means  justice  and  fair  play  to  all,  even 
the  most  humble.  True  democracy  estimates  a  man's 
value  as  a  man. 

The  Negro  is  not  an  alien  in  this  country.  He 
began  his  residence  here  concurrently  with  the  white 
man.  The  Dutch  slaver  landed  at  Jamestown  the 
same  year  the  English  adventurer  landed  at  Plymouth 
— 1620.  There  has  been  practically  no  reinforcement 
from  Africa  for  more  than  a  hundred  years. 

"Soon  after  the  establishment  of  the  new  govern 
ment,  the  Congress  enacted  a  law  fixing  upon  a  period, 
not  remote,  after  which  no  slaves  should  be  introduced 
from  abroad  into  any  State  or  Territory  of  the  Repub 
lic.  Of  the  nearly  four  million  slaves  now  [1860] 
held  as  such  in  the  United  States,  not  five  hundred 
have  been  introduced  in  contravention  of  that 
enactment."3 

Negroes  were  with  the  early  voyagers  and  dis 
coverers  of  America.  Crispus  Attucks,  a  Negro,  fell 
in  the  front  of  the  first  battle  for  American  Independ 
ence.  Benjamin  Banneker,  a  Negro,  assisted  in  fixing 
the  boundaries  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  selecting 
the  site  of  the  Capitol  and  in  locating  the  Executive 
Mansion.  A  Negro  sentinel  guards  the  tomb  of 


3  Williams,  "Letters  on  Slavery,"  pages  19  and  20. 

19 


290  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

Washington  and  Negro  soldiers  defend  the  Philip 
pines.  There  is  not  a  break  in  our  residence  nor  a  flaw 
in  our  patriotism. 

It  is  the  spirit  of  slavery  and  not  the  race  of  the 
slave  that  makes  difficult  the  attainment  of  democracy. 
Slavery  itself,  not  the  slave ;  the  principle,  and  not  the 
man,  is  the  evil.  The  fathers  all  knew  this  and  ex 
pected  gradual,  peaceful  emancipation.  Washington, 
Jefferson,  Madison,  all  so  held  and  so  believed.  Greed 
and  circumstances,  and  not  race  or  section,  finally 
riveted  the  chains  of  slavery  on  the  Afro-American. 
The  process  was  not  only  similar  but  practically 
identical  with  the  evolution  of  the  sweat-shop  and 
factory  victims. 

Mr.  Archer,  of  England,  after  a  hurried  trip 
"through  Afro-America,"  talks  oracularly  of  the  in 
justice  and  ill  prospects  of  the  South,  and  boasts  of  the 
superiority  of  civilization  in  England  because  it  is 
"monochrome/'  He  seems  to  forget  that  notwith 
standing  the  "polychrome  condition  of  the  South,"  it 
is  more  prosperous  than  England  and  just  as  peace 
ful.  While  some  of  our  laws  are  bad  and  some  of  our 
practices  worse,  monochrome  England  has  surpassed 
us  in  both.  Why,  it  was  not  long  ago  that  "Beggars 
who  were  vagabonds  were  whipped,  burnt  through  the 
gristle  of  the  right  ear  with  a  hot  iron,  and  virtually 
made  slaves  of  by  being  apportioned  to  some  employer 
to  work  without  wages  for  a  year,  to  be  imprisoned  if 
they  ran  away  once,  treated  as  felons  for  the  second 
offence  of  the  kind,  and  very  summarily  hanged  if  they 
ran  away  the  third  time." 

And  these  barbarities  were  honestly  thought  neces 
sary  to  make  men  work  and  to  preserve  the  integrity  of 
society.  The  abolition  of  these  cruelties  increased  both 
the  comfort  and  security  of  society.  So  it  was  with 
chattel  slavery  in  this  country,  and  so  it  will  be  with 


What  Has  the  American  Negro  Done?  291 

the  civic  and  political  discrimination  against  the 
Negro. 

Emancipation  was  not  a  failure,  because  it  was 
accepted  in  good  faith  by  the  slaveholders.  Enfran 
chisement  and  reconstruction  met  the  opposite  fate  for 
the  opposite  reason.  They  were  not  accepted  in  good 
faith  and  were  never  fairly  tried. 

"One  of  the  most  conclusive  proofs  that  the 
changes  that  have  been  made  in  the  Negro's  status 
have  been  generally  in  the  direction  of  true  progress, 
is  that  wherever  and  whenever  these  changes  have 
been  complete  and  operative,  opposition  to  them  has 
disappeared  and  they  have  dropped  out  of  the  main 
problem,  leaving  it  by  so  much  the  lighter  and  simpler. 
The  most  notable  instance,  of  course,  is  the  abolition 
of  slavery ;  but  there  are  many  lesser  examples  in  the 
history  of  both  Northern  and  Southern  States, — the 
teaching  of  Negroes  in  private  schools;  their  admis 
sion  into  public  schools;  their  sitting  on  juries;  their 
acceptance  as  court  witnesses;  their  riding  on  street 
cars  ;  their  enlistment  in  the  militia ;  their  appointment 
on  the  police  force,  etc.  It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  more 
consideration  than  it  gets  from  debaters  on  either  side 
of  the  Negro  question,  that  such  changes  as  these, 
which  nobody  finds  any  reason  for  undoing  in  any 
place  where  they  have  been  fully  established,  were, 
until  they  were  made,  as  fiercely  opposed  and  esteemed 
as  dishonorable,  humiliating,  unjust,  and  unsafe  to 
white  men  and  women,  as  those  changes  which,  in 
many  regions  of  our  country,  not  all  of  them  Southern, 
still  remain  to  be  made  before  the  Negro  question  will 
let  itself  be  dismissed.  This  fact  no  one  will  dispute. 
Yet  thousands  shut  their  eyes  and  ears,  or  let  others 
shut  them,  to  the  equal,  though  not  as  salient,  truth  of 
this  fact's  corollary,  to  wit:  that  every  step  toward 
perfecting  of  one  common  public  liberty  for  all 


292  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

American  citizens  is  opposed  and  postponed  only 
where  it  has  never  been  fairly  tried.  Even  the  various 
public  liberties  intended  to  be  secured  to  all  men  alike 
by  the  Civil  Rights  Bill  have  rarely,  if  ever,  in  any 
place  been  actually  secured  and  made  operative  and 
afterward  withdrawn  and  lost.  Only  where  they  have 
been  merely  legalized  and  not  practically  established, 
but  bitterly  fought  and  nullified  throughout  recon 
struction  days,  have  they  since  been  unlegalized,  con 
demned,  and  falsely  proclaimed  to  have  been  fairly 
tried  and  found  wanting. 

D. 

"To  describe  without  rising  to  the  causes,  or 
descending  to  the  consequences,  is  no  more  science 
than  merely  and  simply  to  relate  a  fact  of  which  one 
has  been  a  witness."4 

Heredity  and  evolution  are  antagonistic  but  com 
plementary  forces.5  Conservatism  and  progress  are 
their  legitimate  representatives.  They  are  mutually 
corrective  though  mutually  depreciative  of  each 
other's  virtues.  To  the  ultra-conservative,  the  ultra- 
progressive  are  recklessly  iconoclastic.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  progressives  think  the  conservatives  igno- 
rantly  opposed  to  all  advancement. 

Among  intelligent  and  sincere  people  of  different 
temperaments  and  experiences  these  things  may 
honestly  be.  Now,  mix  with  these  qualities,  igno 
rance,  obstinacy,  selfishness,  fear,  ambition,  and  all  the 
thousand  and  one  moods  and  tenses  that  swell  the 
diapason  of  human  passion,  and  we  see  why  civiliza 
tion  ebbs  and  flows;  and  why  the  history  of  human 
progress  is  a  martyrology  of  earth's  choicest  men. 

4  Arnold  Guyot,  "Earth  and  Man." 

5  See  Chapter  II. 


What  Has  the  American  Negro  Done?  293 

Conservatism  or  cowardice  always  predicts  dis 
aster  at  every  attempt  to  advance  the  frontiers  of 
knowledge  or  move  the  landmarks  of  limitation.  It 
has  been  gravely  argued  that  relieving  the  pains  of 
childbirth  would  destroy  female  chastity,  and  crossing 
the  equator  would  turn  men  black.  "And  if  no  kindly 
cloud  will  parasol  me,  my  very  cellular  membrane  will 
be  changed;  I  shall  be  negrofied." 

Ancient  Mythology  wrote  ne  plus  ultra  (nothing 
more  beyond)  upon  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  and 
modern  Science  has  removed  it  to  the  outer  rim  of  the 
Milky  Way;  but  there  has  been  a  throb  of  pain  for 
every  inch  of  that  awe-inspiring  distance.  Every 
advance  toward  liberty  and  freedom  has  aroused  fear 
and  provoked  opposition. 

Nowadays,  a  workingman  may  live  in  splendors 
Caesar  never  knew,  and  conquer  worlds  of  privilege 
beyond  the  dreams  of  Alexander ;  but  mankind  is  not 
yet  free,  and  the  croaker  is  still  busy.  Man  has  not 
yet  learned  the  truth  that  will  make  him  free  nor  felt 
that  universal  throb  of  sympathy  that  will  make  him 
everywhere  and  at  all  times  his  brother's  keeper. 
Hungry  children  still  tug  at  the  lean  breasts  of  starv 
ing  mothers;  and  State  governments  still  coin  the 
quivering  flesh  of  convicts  into  gold. 

Bacon  said  of  the  ancient  philosophies,  that  they 
"ended  in  nothing  but  disputation ;  that  it  was  neither 
a  vineyard  nor  an  olive  ground,  but  an  intricate  wood 
of  briars  and  thistles,  from  which  those  who  lost  them 
selves  in  it  brought  back  many  scratches  and  no  food." 
This  seems  particularly  true  of  political  philosophy. 
There  seems  to  be  some  essential  thing  left  out  of 
man's  makeup,  or  something  wrong  put  into  it,  that 
prevents  him  from  having  faith  in  himself  and  being 
just  to  his  brother.  "All  is  life  for  him  who  is  alive; 
all  is  death  for  him  who  is  dead.  All  is  spirit  for  him 


294  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

who  is  spirit ;  all  is  matter  for  him  who  is  nothing  but 
matter.  It  is  with  the  whole  life  and  the  whole  intel 
lect  that  we  should  study  the  work  of  Him  who  is  life 
and  intellect  itself."  Man  must  concede  humanity  to 
man  to  win  that  concession  for  himself. 


E. 

Religion  is  a  determining  factor  in  political  destiny. 
Religion  is  the  surest  basis  for  morality,  and  without 
morality  civilization  is  impossible.  Religion  softened 
the  lot  of  the  slave.  Religion  brought  emancipation. 
Religion  built  our  schools  and  colleges.  And,  if  we 
ever  reach  the  goal  of  real  citizenship,  it  will  come 
through  religion. 

Right  thinking  is  the  chief  factor  in  the  advance 
ment  of  a  race  or  nation.  Not  only  is  the  Negro 
religious,  but  he  is  thoughtful.  He  has  not  only  con 
tributed  to  the  physical  wealth  of  this  country  by  his 
muscle,  but  he  has  contributed  to  its  moral  wealth  by 
his  character,  and  to  its  intellectual  wealth  by  his 
brains.  Character  is  not  only  a  personal  asset,  but  a 
national  asset.  The  conduct  of  the  Negro  race  during 
the  Civil  War  was  a  contribution  to  the  moral  wealth 
of  the  world.  A  nation  with  all  its  citizens  of  high 
moral  character  would  be 

"As  rich  in  having  such  a  jewel  as  twenty  seas, 

If  all  their  sands  were  pearl, 
The  water  nectar,  and  the  rocks  pure  gold." 

The  courage  of  Crispus  Attucks,  the  knowledge  of 
Benjamin  Banneker,  the  eloquence  of  Frederick 
Douglass,  the  genius  of  Booker  T.  Washington,  the 
learning  of  Burkhardt  DuBois,  the  art  of  Henry  O. 
Tanner,  the  music  of  Coleridge  Taylor,  and  the  poetry 


What  Has  the  American  Negro  Done?  295 

of  Paul  Laurence  Dunbar  are  national  contributions 
to  the  elemental  forces  of  civilization.6  The  Jubilee 
Music  is  a  contribution  to  the  joy  of  the  world.  The 
folk-songs  of  the  Afro-American  find  a  responsive 
chord  in  every  human  breast. 

A  sympathetic  and  painstaking  study  of  American 
history7  will  show  the  Negro  has  produced  the  excep 
tional  individual  with  a  frequency  that  is  little  sus 
pected  even  by  his  friends.  The  story  of  Abram 
Grant  from  the  ox-cart  (where  he  was  born)  and  the 
slave-pen  to  the  bishopric  is  of  as  great  educative 
value  as  the  story  of  James  A.  Garfield  from  the 
tow-path  to  the  presidency.  The  principles  of  true 
government  are  nowhere  in  literature  more  plainly 
and  forcibly  expressed  than  in  the  words  of  Martin  R. 
Delaney,  a  black  man.8  The  American  boy  should 
know  all.  From  every  walk  of  life  they  come.  Why, 
here  on  the  banks  of  the  Cumberland  River,  at  Nash 
ville,  Tenn.,  dwelt  for  many  years  an  humble  fireman 
who  risked  his  life  a  score  of  times  for  others,  and 
rescued  a  dozen  people  from  the  clammy  clutch  of 
engulfiing  waters.  The  local  papers  made  special  note 
of  his  death. 

It  is  a  long  way  from  a  log  cabin  in  Kentucky  to 
the  presidency  of  these  United  States,  but  from  the 
slave-pens  of  Maryland  to  the  marshalship  of  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia  is  farther.  While  we  justly  honor 
Lincoln  for  the  first,  we  should  remember  Douglass, 
"the  noblest  slave  God  ever  set  free,"  made  the  second. 

"  'Make  way  for  liberty/  he  cried; 
Made  way  for  liberty  and  died," 


6  See  also  page  251. 

7  See  page  47. 

8  See  "Life  and  Public  Service  of  Martin  R.  Delaney,"  by  Frank 
A.  Rollin,  page  329. 


296  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

is  as  true  of  Crispus  Attacks'  rush  upon  the  British 
bayonets  at  Boston  as  of  Arnold  von  Winkelried's 
plunge  upon  the  Austrian  pikes  at  Sempach.  Tous- 
saint  L'Overture  is  as  worthy  a  place  in  the  history  of 
war  as  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  Of  those  turbulent  and 
erratic  souls  that  sacrifice  themselves  for  the  righting 
of  others'  wrongs,  Nat  Turner  is  as  worthy  of  remem 
brance  as  John  Brown.  When  the  roll  is  called  of 
great  and  good  women  whose  spiritualized  lives  have 
blessed  their  generation,  Sojourner  Truth  is  as  worthy 
a  place  as  Frances  E.  Willard ;  and  for  pure  heroism 
and  self-sacrifice  to  save  others,  Harriet  Tubman  is  as 
worthy  a  place  in  the  Sacred  Fanes  as  Grace  Darling, 
Florence  Nightingale,  or  Joan  of  Arc. 


F. 

The  Negro  has  learned  that  racial  self-sufficiency 
is  the  road  to  racial  peace  and  prosperity.  Especially 
is  this  true  socially.  Mr.  Murphy  has  sententiously 
formulated  a  doctrine  that  intelligent  Negroes  gen 
erally  understand  and  preach  to  the  masses. 

"As  the  race  comes  to  have  within  itself,  within  its 
own  social  resources,  a  world  that  is  worth  living  for, 
it  will  gain  that  individual  foothold  among  the  families 
of  men  which  will  check  the  despairing  passion  of  its 
self-obliteration;  and  instead  of  the  temptation  to 
abandon  its  place  among  the  races  of  the  world  it  will 
begin  to  claim  its  own  name  and  its  own  life.  That  is 
the  only  real,  the  only  permanent  security  of  race  in 
tegrity  for  the  Negro.  Its  assumption  is  not  degrada 
tion,  but  opportunity." 

Tis  a  long  way  from  slavery  to  freedom.  Some 
times  the  freedman  is  absolutely  incapable  of  becom 
ing  a  freeman. 


Hon.  Fred  Douglass. 


What  Has  the  American  Negro  Done?  297 

"Chains  do  not  a  prison  make, 
Nor  iron  bars  a  cage." 

Manacles  and  shackles  cannot  by  their  presence  alone 
make  a  slave,  nor  by  their  absence  alone  make  a  free 
man.  The  caged  canary  sings,  but  the  caged  sparrow 
dies.  Why?  Out  of  his  cage  the  canary  makes  a 
meal  for  the  first  hungry  cat  that  passes  his  way. 
Cats,  dogs,  boys  with  toy  guns,  are  not  sufficient  to 
diminish  the  number  of  sparrows.  Why?  Adapta 
bility  to  environment  is  the  explanation. 

Fifty  years  of  freedom  have  not  entirely  abolished 
the  virtues  of  slavery  nor  established  those  of  free 
dom.  These  qualities  are  antagonistic  and  do  not  yield 
readily  one  to  the  other.  While  the  virtues  are  strug 
gling  for  the  mastery,  the  vices  of  both  estates  have 
united  upon  the  most  intimate  terms,  and  are  produc 
ing  a  numerous  progeny  of  illegitimate  troubles  just 
as  the  respectable  white  people  and  respectable 
Negroes  are  afraid  to  co-operate  for  the  public  good, 
but  the  ignorant  and  vicious  of  both  races  do  not 
hesitate  to  commingle  to  the  detriment  of  all. 

Slavery  taught  the  Negro  to  accept  without  ques 
tion  the  white  man's  opinion  on  every  subject.  This 
he  too  often  does  yet,  to  the  injury  of  both  races. 
Wlien  a  white  man  believes  the  white  people  are  the 
best  looking  people  on  earth,  he  is  wise  and  in  har 
mony  with  nature;  but  when  a  black  man  believes  it 
he  is  a  fool  and  out  of  harmony  with  nature.  Because 
that  belief  will  make  the  white  man  proud  of  himself 
and  his  race,  while  that  same  belief  will  make  of  the 
black  man  a  creature  that  neither  God  nor  man  has  yet 
found  any  use  for,  namely,  a  man  ashamed  of  his  race.9 
This  by-product  of  the  slave  system  has  confused 
ethnic  values  and  hindered  social  progress.  It  is  an 

9  See  page  60,  "Undesirable  Variations." 


298  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

insidious  poison  that  has  perverted  the  reason  of  many 
men,  so  that  they  have  not  only  forgotten  justice,  but 
are  blind  to  their  own  interests.  The  white  man  is 
right  when  he  insists  that  a  black  man  cannot  be  a 
white  man,  but  wrong  when  he  insists  that  all  men  arc 
white.  The  Negro  who  does  not  accept  the  first 
proposition  is  a  fool;  but  the  Negro  who  accepts  the 
second  is  both  a  fool  and  a  menace. 

Socially  the  Negro  has  loosened  the  sealed  foun 
tains  of  knowledge  and  is  earnestly  striving  to 

"Drink  deep,  until  the  habits  of  the  slave, 
The  sins  of  emptiness,  gossip,  and  spite, 
And  slander  die." 

"Even  under  the  artificial  and  undiscriminating 
pressure  of  public  caste  he  is  developing  social  ranks 
with  wide  moral  and  intellectual  differences,  from  the 
stupid,  idle,  criminal,  and  painfully  numerous  minority 
at  the  bottom,  to  a  wealth-holding,  educated  minority 
at  the  top;  each  emerging  or  half-emerging  from  a 
huge  middle  majority  of  peace-keeping,  but  unedu 
cated  and  unskilled  farmers,  mechanics,  and  laborers, 
yet  a  majority  unestranged  from  the  more  cultured 
and  prosperous  minority  of  their  own  race  by  any 
difference  of  religion,  conflict  of  traditions,  or  rivalry 
of  capital  and  labor,  and  barkening  to  their  counsels 
more  tractably  than  the  mass  listens  to  a  few  among 
any  other  people  on  the  continent." 


The  Negro  has  been  very  unfortunate  in  the  ad 
ministration  of  justice.  Little  is  done  to  lessen  crime. 
The  lack  of  simple  justice  is  appalling. 

"There  are  State  prisons  in  which  you  may  find  the 


What  Has  the  American  Negro  Done?  299 

colored  convicts  serving  sentences  whose  average  is 
nearly  twice  that  of  the  white  convicts  in  the  same 
place  for  the  same  crimes." 

The  pendulum  swings  from  indifferent  laxity  to 
vengeful  severity,  seldom  indeed  resting  at  the  perpen 
dicular  of  even-handed  justice.  All  the  weaknesses  of 
popular  government  are  reinforced  by  class  prejudice 
and  racial  antagonism.  There  are  several  distinctive 
phases  of  criminal  administration : — 

1.  Crimes  by  whites  against  whites. 

2.  Crimes  by  blacks  against  blacks. 

3.  Crimes  by  whites  against  blacks. 

4.  Crimes  by  blacks  against  whites. 

5.  Crimes     committed    by    whites     and    blacks 
together:    (a)  against  whites,  (b)  against  blacks. 

In  the  first  place,  purse,  position,  and  interest  be 
ing  equal,  justice,  though  somewhat  belated,  is  apt  to 
arrive.  In  the  second  case  indifference  is  apt  to  clog 
the  wheels  of  justice,  though  partiality  does  not  often 
mar  the  findings.  Under  the  third  head  prosecution 
is  rare  and  conviction  difficult.  Under  the  fourth 
heading  prosecution  is  vigorous  (unless  the  offense  is 
trivial  or  personal  friendship  intervenes),  conviction 
easy,  and  escape  practically  impossible. 

5  (a)  usually  represents  headings  I,  2,  and  3  com 
bined,  while  5  (&)  is  usually  a  duplicate  of  conditions 
under  3. 

A  belief  that  the  Negro  is  unable  to  defend  himself 
often  makes  white  people  tyrannical.  A  belief  that 
the  courts  are  unfair  often  makes  the  Negro  desperate. 
By  magnifying  petty  offenses,  petty  criminals  are 
often  made  grave  and  incorrigible  offenders.  Thus 
the  seed  of  race  antagonism  and  anarchy  are  sown. 
The  records  of  the  inferior  courts  of  our  country  will 
prove  painful  reading  to  those  who  love  justice  and 
fair  play.  Fred  Douglass  said  that  as  a  boy  he  dis- 


300  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

covered  that  the  slaves  oftenest  whipped  were  not  the 
ones  most  deserving  punishment,  but  those  most  easily 
whipped.  This  is  largely  true  of  our  administration  of 
justice.  This  fact,  rather  than  race  prejudice  or 
Negro  criminality,  explains  the  frequency  with  which 
Negro  crap  games  are  raided  and  Negro  vagrants 
incarcerated. 

The  administration  of  justice  is  one  of  the  weakest 
and  darkest  spots  in  our  national  life.  In  the  Poet 
Dante's  day  there  was  current  a  superstition  that  if 
a  murderer  were  to  eat  on  the  grave  of  his  victim  a 
sop  of  bread  and  wine  within  nine  days  from  the 
murder  he  would  thus  escape  the  penalty  of  his  crime. 
Similarly  in  our  day  there  is  an  effort  to  escape  the 
consequences  of  injustice  to  the  present  generation  of 
colored  people  in  freedom  by  a  sop  of  praise  to  the 
character  of  their  grandparents  in  slavery.  But  the 
warning  of  Dante  holds  good  today:  "Hope  not  to 
scare  God's  vengeance  with  a  sop."  In  the  face  of  it 
all,  the  Negro  has  never  turned  back  on  the  thorny 
road  from  freedmzn  to  freeman.  With  increasing 
literacy  and  decreasing  death  rate,  he  has  kept  his 
face  to  the  morning. 


H 

About  twenty-five  years  ago  Mr.  Geo.  W.  Cable, 
a  learned  and  patriotic  Southern  gentleman,  discussed 
the  Negro  problem  in  a  series  of  magazine  papers.  I 
have  drawn  freely  upon  this  material  in  the  first  part 
of  the  present  chapter,  and  now  enumerate  largely 
from  the  same  source  the  following  imperative  obliga 
tions  of  the  Negro: — 

i.  To  reach  full  citizenship  he  must  make  most  of 
the  liberties  he  has. 


Sojourner  Truth.     (Courtesy  of  "The  Crisis.") 


What  Has  the  American  Negro  Done?  301 

"The  intelligent  Negro  may  well  ask  of  our  public 
opinion  a  larger  measure  of  discrimination;  and  yet 
he  may  well  lay  the  greater  stress  upon  his  gains 
rather  than  upon  his  losses.  Certainly  his  gains  will 
be  of  small  avail  if  the  contemplation  of  his  wrongs 
shall  supersede  in  his  life  the  positive  acceptance  and 
the  definite  using  of  his  rights."10 

2.  Be  patient  and  work  persistently  and  intelli 
gently  for  his  manhood  rights. 

"In  the  politics  of  a  great  nation  even  the  greatest 
questions  must  take  their  turns,  according  as  now 
one  and  now  another  gains  the  lead  in  the  public 
attention,  and  the  more  sagaciously  and  diligently  any 
worthy  question  is  pressed  to  the  front  by  the  forces 
that  dictate  to  the  daily  press,  the  stump,  and  the 
national  and  State  legislatures,  the  sooner  and  oftener 
will  its  turn  come  round  to  lay  uppermost  hold  upon 
the  national  conscience  and  policy.  There  always  was 
good  reason,  but  now  there  is  the  greatest  need,  that 
you  give  and  get  this  kind  of  backing  for  the  question 
of  your  civil  and  political  rights.  We  say  give  and 
get,  because  every  endeavor  should  be  used  to  secure 
by  personal  solicitation  not  the  condescension — there 
has  been  enough  of  that — but  the  friendly  countenance 
and  active  co-operation  of  white  men  well  known  in 
their  communities  for  intelligence  and  integrity." 

3.  So  frame  his  propaganda  as  to  include  his  racial 
welfare  program  within  a  program  for  the  general 
welfare. 

"Nothing  else  can  so  hasten  the  acquisition  of  all 
your  rights  as  for  you  to  make  it  plain  that  your  own 
rights  and  welfare  are  not  all  you  are  striving  for,  but 
that  you  are  at  least,  equally  with  the  white  man,  the 
student  of  your  individual  duty  toward  every  public 
question  in  the  light  of  the  general  good." 

10  Murphy,  "The  Present  South." 


302  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

4.  Make  his  intentions  clear. 

"There  are  tens  of  thousands  of  intelligent  people 
who  today  unwittingly  exaggerate  the  demands  made 
by  and  in  behalf  of  the  Negro  into  a  vast  and  shape 
less  terror.  Neither  he,  nor  his  advocates,  nor  his  op 
ponents  have  generally  realized  how  widely  his  claims 
have  been,  and,  sometimes  by  and  sometimes  without 
intention,  misconstrued.  He  needs  still  to  make  in 
numerable  reiterations  of  the  facts  that  seem  to  him 
too  plain  for  repetition ;  as,  for  example,  that  he  does 
not  want  'Negro  supremacy/  or  any  supremacy  save 
that  of  an  intelligent  and  upright  minority,  be  it  white, 
black,  or  both,  ruling,  out  of  office,  by  the  sagacity  of 
their  counsels  and  their  loyalty  to  the  common  good, 
and,  in  office,  by  the  choice  of  majority  of  the  whole 
people;  that,  as  to  private  society,  he  does  not  want  any 
man's  company  who  does  not  want  his;  or  that,  as  to 
suffrage,  he  does  not  want  to  vote  solidly  unless  he 
must  in  order  to  maintain  precious  rights  and  duties 
denied  to,  and  only  to,  him  and  all  his." 

5.  The  Negro  ought  to  show  political  sense. 

'This  means  several  things.  It  means,  that,  with 
out  venality  or  servility,  he  must  hold  his  vote  up  for 
honorable  competitive  bid  of  political  parties.  A  vote 
which  one  party  can  count  on  as  a  matter  of  course, 
and  the  opposite  party  cannot  hope  to  win  at  any  price, 
need  expect  nothing  from  either.  In  no  campaign 
ought  the  Negro  know  certainly  how  he  will  vote  be 
fore  he  has  seen  both  platforms  and  weighed  the 
chances  of  their  words  being  made  good.  He  will 
never  get  his  rights  until  the  white  man  does  not  know 
how  he  is  going  to  vote.  He  must  let  him  see  that  the 
Negro  vote  can  divide  whenever  it  may,  and  come 
together  again  solidly  whenever  it  must. 

"Keeping  his  vote  alive  means,  also,  that  while  to 
be  grateful  is  right  and  to  be  ungrateful  is  base,  he 


What  Has  the  American  Negro  Done?  303 

must  nevertheless  stop  voting  for  gratitude.  The 
debts  of  gratitude  are  sacred,  but  no  unwise  vote  can 
lighten  them.  A  vote  is  not  a  free-will  offering  to  the 
past;  it  is  a  debt  to  the  present." 

Again,  the  Negro  must  make  himself  a  part  of  his 
country. 1 l 

"What  makes  great  parties  if  it  be  not  the  com 
bination  of  various  political  interests  consenting  to 
concern  themselves  in  one  another's  aims  and  claims 
for  the  better  promotion  of  those  designs  in  the  order 
of  their  urgency  and  practicability?  Now,  here  is  the 
colored  man  charged,  at  least,  with  rarely — almost 
never — making  himself  seen  or  heard  in  any  wide 
spread  interest  except  his  own.  Small  wonder  if  other 
men  do  not  more  hotly  insist  upon  his  vote  being  cast 
and  counted.  The  Negro  may  be  not  the  first  or  the 
principal  one  to  blame  in  this  matter,  but  he  is  largely 
the  largest  loser." 

Once  more  this  means  that  whenever  practicable 
or  possible  he  should  vote,  pay  poll-tax,  register,  etc. 

"He  must  practically  recognize  two  facts,  which  if 
the  white  man  had  not  recognized  in  his  case  long  ago 
he  would  be  in  slavery  today ;  that  there  is  an  enormous 
value  in  having  votes  cast :  first,  even  though  they  can 
not  win ;  and,  secondly,  even  though  they  are  not  going 
to  be  counted.  A  good  cause  and  a  stubborn  fight  are 
a  combination  almost  as  good  as  victory  itself;  better 
than  victory  without  them;  the  seed  of  certain  victory 
at  last.  Even  if  he  has  to  cope  with  fraud,  make  it  play 
its  infamous  part  so  boldly  and  so  fast  that  it  shall 
work  its  own  disgrace  and  destruction,  as  many  a  time 
it  has  done  before  the  colored  man  ever  voted.  Vote! 
Cast  your  vote,  though  taxed  for  it.  Cast  your  vote, 
though  defrauded  of  it,  as  many  a  white  man  is  today." 


11  See  page  34,  especially  footnote. 


304  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

"In  most  of  the  Southern  States  the  colored  vote 
has  been  diminishing  steadily  for  years,  to  the  pro 
found  satisfaction  of  those  white  men  whose  suicidal 
policy  is  to  keep  you  in  alienism.  In  the  name  of  the 
dead,  black  and  white,  of  the  living,  and  of  your  chil 
dren  yet  unborn,  not  as  one  party  or  another,  but  as 
American  freemen,  vote!  for  in  this  free  land  the 
people  who  do  not  vote  do  not  get  and  do  not  deserve 
their  rights !" 

The  ballot-box  should  become  a  holy  shrine  to  the 
Afro-American.  "Three  hundred  thousand  white 
men  died  that  you  might  not  touch  it ;  other  three  hun 
dred  thousand  died  that  you  might  approach  it."  As 
no  other  people  since  time  began  was  ever  the  bene 
ficiaries  of  so  much  blood  not  their  ozvn,  so  we  should 
stand  for  purity  and]  patriotism  as  no  people  has  ever 
stood.  The  Negro  should  cherish  the  ballot  as  he  does 
his  own  life. 

6.  He  must  spend  his  money  willingly  and  wisely 
to  advance  his  own  citizenship. 

"No  full  use  of  the  liberties  you  now  have  can  be 
made  without  co-operation,  however  loose  that  co 
operation  may  have  to  be ;  and  no  co-operation  can  be 
very  wide,  active,  or  effective,  without  the  use  of 
money.  This  tax  cannot  be  laid  anywhere  upon  a  few 
purses.  Falling  upon  many  it  will  rest  too  lightly  to  be 
counted  a  burden.  White  men  may  and  should  help  to 
bear  it:  but  if  so,  then  all  the  more  the  Negro  must 
spend  his  own  money.  Half  the  amount  now  idled 
away  on  comparatively  useless  societies  and  secret 
orders  will  work  wonders." 

Money  is  essential  especially  for  two  matters: 
First,  for  the  stimulation,  publication,  and  wide  dis 
tribution  of  a  literature  of  the  facts,  equities,  and 
exigencies  of  the  Negro  question  in  all  its  practical 
phases.  This  would  naturally  include  a  constant  and 


What  Has  the  American  Negro  Done?  305 

diligent  keeping  of  the  whole  question  pruned  clear  of 
its  dead  matter.  From  nothing  else  has  the  question 
suffered  so  much,  at  the  hands  both  of  friends  and  of 
foes,  as  from  lack  of  this  kind  of  attention.  And,  sec 
ondly,  money  is  essential  for  the  unofficial,  unpartisan, 
prompt,  and  thorough  investigation  and  exposure  of 
crimes  against  civil  and  political  rights. 

7.  He  must  intelligently  and  patiently,  but  eternally 
and  watchfully,  press  the  contest  for  equal  rights  and 
duties  in  his  home  State. 

'The  claim  need  by  no  means  be  abated  that  the 
national  government  has  rights  and  duties  in  the  mat 
ter  that  have  yet  been  fully  established;  but,  for  all 
that,  he  can  urge  the  question's  recognition  in  State 
political  platforms,  and,  having  made  his  vote  truly 
and  honorably  valuable  to  all  parties,  can  bestow  it 
where  there  is  largest  prospect  of  such  recognition 
being  carried  into  legislation  and  such  legislation  being 
carried  into  effect." 

8.  The  Negro  ought  to  learn  that  self-interest 
(mutual  benefts)  is  the  only  sane  basis  from  which  to 
predicate  successful  co-operation. 

No  man  is  ever  going  to  think  more  of  you  than 
he  does  of  himself.  The  highest  ethical  ideal  ever  lived 
or  preached  enjoined  that  you  love  your  neighbor  as 
yourself.  Sane  altruism  is  the  highest  and  truest  ego 
ism. 

'There  is  a  strong  line  of  cleavage  already  running 
through  the  white  part  of  the  population  in  every 
Southern  State.  On  one  side  of  this  line  the  trend  of 
conviction  toward  the  establishment  of  the  common 
happiness  and  security  through  the  uplifting  of  the 
whole  people  by  the  widest  possible  distribution  of 
moral  effects  and  wealth-producing  powers.  It  favors, 
for  example,  the  expansion  of  the  public-school  system, 
and  is  strongest  among  men  of  professional  callings 


20 


306  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

and  within  sweep  of  the  influences  of  colleges  and  uni 
versities.  It  antagonizes  such  peculiar  institutions  as 
the  convict-lease  system,12  with  that  system's  enor 
mous  political  powers.  It  condemns  corrupt  elections 
at  home  and  abroad.  It  revolts  against  absolutism  of 
political  parties.  In  a  word,  it  stands  distinctly  for  the 
new  South,  of  American  ideas,  including  the  idea  of 
material  development,  as  against  a  new  South  with  no 
ideas  except  that  of  material  development  for  the  ag 
grandizement  of  the  few  and  the  holding  of  the  whole 
Negro  race  in  the  South  to  a  servile  public  status, 
cost  what  it  may  to  justice,  wealth,  or  morals.  Let  the 
Negro  in  every  State  and  local  issue  strive  with  a 
dauntless  perseverance  intelligently,  justly,  and  honor 
ably  to  make  his  vote  at  once  too  cheap  and  too  valu 
able  for  the  friends  of  justice  and  a  common  freedom 
to  despise  it  or  allow  their  enemies  to  suppress  it.  He 
should  remember  that  his  power  in  the  nation  at  large 
must  always  be  measured  entirely  by  his  power  in  his 
own  State." 


12  Few  people  outside  of  those  intimately  connected  with  it  have 
any  conception  of  what  this  system  is.  The  following  editorial  from 
The  New  Republic  (Oct.  16,  1915)  gives  only  a  faint  inkling:— 

"The  convict-lease  system  has  survived  many  exposures,  but  the 
arraignment  of  the  treatment  of  State  prisoners  just  made  by  the  Ala 
bama  Legislative  Investigating  Committee  is  not  likely  to  make  the 
practice  more  popular.  The  committee  members  were  sickened  by  the 
stupid  brutality  and  greed  which  they  discovered.  They  found  farmers' 
sons,  young  mountaineers,  accustomed  to  living  in  the  sunshine,  con 
demned  to  work  underground  in  the  coal  mines,  beginning  before  sun 
rise  and  laboring  until  long  after  sunset,  with  insufficient  and  ill-pre 
pared  food,  and  treated  so  brutally  that  "the  skin  was  literally  beaten 
from  the  backs."  In  the  turpentine  camps  conditions  were  even  worse. 
The  convicts  "were  made  frequently  to  rise  at  four  in  the  morning,  day 
in  and  day  out,  walk  five  or  six  miles  to  work,  toil  all  day  long  with  in 
sufficient  water  and  food,  in  the  heat  of  the  sun,  until  darkness  comes, 
and  then  forced  to  walk  into  camp  for  their  supper."  Inexperienced  and 
untrained  short-term  convicts  were  put  at  extra-hazardous  work,  and  a 
case  was  cited  in  which  two  boys  arrested  for  stealing  a  ride  on  the 
train  were  blown  up  on  their  second  day  of  work  in  a  mine  explosion. 
The  Alabama  Committee,  who  were  not  philanthropists  but  rather  con 
servative,  hard-headed  men,  declared  the  convict  system  to  be  "a  relic 
of  barbarism,  a  species  of  human  slavery,  a  crime  against  civilization." 


What  Has  the  American  Negro  Done?  307 

Finally,  the  Negro  ought  to  exalt  individual  ex 
cellence. 

"It  is  perfectly  natural  that  the  Negro,  his  history 
being  what  it  is,  should  magnify  the  necessity  of  co 
operation  in  multitudinous  numbers  to  effect  any  pub 
lic  result.  He  has  not  only  been  treated,  but  has 
treated  himself  too  much,  as  a  mere  mass.  While  he 
has  too  often  lacked  in  his  organized  efforts  that  dis 
interested  zeal,  or  even  that  semblance  of  it,  which 
far-sighted  shrewdness  puts  on,  to  insure  wide  and 
harmonious  co-operation,  he  has,  on  the  other  hand, 
overlooked  the  power  of  the  individual  and  the  neces 
sity  of  individual  power  to  give  power  to  numbers." 

Individual  excellence  has  ever  been  the  hope  of 
progress  and  the  dread  of  tyranny.  The  bulwark  of 
the  slave  system  was  its  ability  to  destroy  individual 
initiative  and  keep  the  slaves  en  masse.  We  are  now 
prone  to  hope  too  much  from  mass  movement.  We 
must  learn  the  value  of  individual  excellence  and 
effort. 

"Do  not  wait  for  the  mass  to  move.  The  mass 
waits  for  the  movement  of  that  individual  who  can  not 
and  will  not  wait  for  the  mass.  You  may  believe  your 
powers  to  be,  or  they  may  actually  be,  humble ;  but  even 
so,  there  are  all  degrees  of  leadership  and  need  of  all 
degrees.  There  is  work  to  be  done  which  is  not  in  the 
nature  of  violence  or  votes  or  any  mere  mass  power, 
organized  or  unorganized,  you  can  accomplish." 

Isaiah  was  right:  "And  a  man  shall  be  as  an 
hiding-place  from  the  wind  and  covert  from  the  tem 
pest  ;  as  rivers  of  water  in  a  dry  place,  as  the  shadow 
of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land."  (Is.  32:  2.)  The 
efforts  of  an  individual  thinker  may  be  more  victory- 
compelling  than  "an  army  with  banners."  The  bio 
logical  researches  of  Prof.  Ernest  Everett  Just,  of 
Washington,  D.  C.,  give  promise -that  such  men  are 
coming. 


308  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

The  Negro  ought  not  to  talk  too  much,  especially 
about  prosperity.  We  are  still  poor.  A  man  without 
a  home  or  any  other  earthly  possessions  may  feel  very 
rich  over  his  first  ten-dollar  bill.  Whatever  his  feel 
ings,  he  is  still  a  poor  man.  This  was  our  condition  as 
a  race.  Turned  loose  with  nothing  after  working 
without  wages,  we  were  so  proud  of  our  first  earnings 
that  we  failed  to  see  the  gulf  between  our  actual 
possessions  and  our  urgent  needs.  In  an  effort  to 
prove  our  industry  we  overstated  our  possessions. 

Overemphasis  sometimes  defeats  its  own  ends. 
Some  years  ago  a  lurid  temperance  orator  illustrated 
the  dangers  of  drinking  alcoholic  liquors  by  the  vivid 
portrayal  of  a  terrible  accident.  A  man  had  drunk  so 
long  and  much  that  the  tissues  of  his  body  were  sat 
urated  with  alcohol  to  such  an  extent  that  his  breath 
was  laden  with  its  fumes.  One  night  in  a  drunken 
stupor  he  attempted  to  blow  out  a  candle,  when  his 
breath  took  fire  and  he  met  a  most  agonizing  death. 
At  the  conclusion  of  the  address  an  old  toper  in  the 
rear  tottered  to  the  platform  and  said  to  the1  lecturer : 
"Pardon,  but  is  that  candle  story  straight?"  Being 
assured  that  it  was,  he  cordially  thanked  the  lecturer 
and  congratulated  himself  for  coming.  As  he  reeled 
from  the  platform  he  solemnly  declared,  amid  breath 
less  silence :  "As  long  as  I  live,  I'll  never,  never,  never 
blow  out  another  candle!" 

Like  the  lecturer,  we  have  talked  too  much  or 
talked  the  wrong  way.  Our  boast  of  industry  brought 
discrimination  against  us  in  getting  work.  Our  call 
for  sanitation  brought  segregation  of  our  habitations 
and  persons.  Let  us  be  cautious  of  how  ive  emphasize 
unduly  either  our  needs  or  our  deeds. 

Wearing  diamonds  may  not  only  excite  envy,  but 
invite  robbers ;  and  exposing  sores  may  not  only  offend 
taste,  but  drive  away  friends.  Too  much  attention 


What  Has  the  American  Negro  Done?  309 

prevents  progress.  The  Negro  should  not  seek  ad 
miration  by  boasting  nor  sympathy  by  whining. 

Finally,  the  Negro  ought  to  cultivate  unceasingly 
a  racial  sense  of  spiritual  values.  "Thrice  is  he  armed 
who  has  his  quarrel  just."  To  deserve  success  is 
eventually  to  get  it.  We  must  be  careful  not  to  exalt 
material  prosperity  or  possessions  unduly.  The  most 
durable  stone  will  not  make  a  substantial  wall  unless 
good  mortar  be  used.  Moral  rectitude  and  spiritual  in 
sight  are  the  mortar  that  make  material  wealth  a  wall 
of  protection. 

The  curse  of  this  age  is  the  apotheosis  of  the 
dollar. 

The  fight  against  alcohol  is  not  so  much  a  fight 
against  appetite  as  against  dollars.  Venality,  not 
Venus,  is  the  bulwark  of  prostitution.  The  red-light 
district  is  a  monument  to  the  triumph  of  money  over 
morals.  Money  produces  the  turmoil  in  the  race  ques 
tion.  It  pays.  It  is  a  source  of  revenue.  Prejudice 
produces  profit. 

When  all  things  are  for  barter,  destruction  is  immi 
nent.  To  arrest  ruin,  a  change  must  come.  The 
Negro  should  make  every  effort  to  enhance  and 
strengthen  the  moral  forces  of  the  nation.  What  we 
lack  in  silver  and  gold  we  should  try  to  make  up  in  the 
fruits  of  the  spirit. 

Babylon  fell  because  the  souls  of  men  could  be 
bought  in  her  market-place. 

"In  Babylon,  mad  Babylon, 

What  get  you  for  your  pence? 
A  moiety  of  cinnamon, 

Of  flour  and  frankincense. 
But  let  the  shekels  in  your  keep 

Be  multiplied  by  ten, 
And  you  shall  purchase  slaves,  and  sheep, 

Yea,  and  the  souls  of  men" 


310  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

There  are  some  things  that  must  not  be  bartered  if 
civilization  is  to  endure.  The  price  is  immaterial.  It 
matters  not  whether  a  man  gets  a  mess  of  pottage  or 
a  kingdom  for  his  honor;  the  condemnation  holds. 
Men  shirk  responsibility  by  doing  collectively  what 
they  would  hesitate  to  do  individually.  Yet  the  units 
make  the  mass,  and  division  of  guilt  is  not  destruction 
of  guilt.  The  number  of  defendants  does  not  change 
the  character  of  a  crime,  and  racial  misdeeds  are  as 
sure  of  a  Nemesis  as  individual  misconduct. 

While  the  great  white  race  cannot  escape  the  pen 
alty  if  it  barter  its  honor  for  the  privilege  of  exploiting, 
suppressing,  or  even  destroying  the  Negro,  neither  can 
the  Negro  escape  if  he  contribute  to  this  end  by  moral 
turpitude  or  spiritual  blindness. 


The  historian  can  say  what  a  man  has  done,  the 
philosopher  can  say  what  he  ought  to  do,  but  only  God 
can  say  what  he  will  do.  And  yet  prosperity  depends 
in  a  measure  upon  foresight,  and  peace  is  helped  or 
hindered  by  prophecy.  What  then  will  the  Negro  do? 
What  is  the  racial  program  of  the  present-day  leaders 
of  the  Af ro- American  ? 

Assertory  judgments12  are  the  reflexes  of  our 
moral  and  intellectual  experiences.  Our  opinions  of 
what  the  other  fellow  will  do  may  be  but  the  overtones 
of  our  own  desires.  That  is,  we  credit  the  other  man 
with  intending  to  do  what  we  think  he  ought  or  ought 
not  to  do.  A  man's  own  character  is  often  strikingly 
portrayed  by  his  description  of  other  men's  motives 
and  intentions.  In  spite  of  all  this,  however,  asso 
ciations  beget  similarity  and  like  experiences  produce 
like  desires.  One  touch  of  nature  makes  all  the  world 


12  See  Introduction,  page  5. 


What  Hcts  the  'American  Negro  Done?  311 

akin.  An  individual  may  speak  for  a  group,  and  one 
man  may  voice  the  sentiment  of  a  nation.  This  psy 
chological  truth  is  one  of  the  basic  facts  of  representa 
tive  government. 

Without  egotism  and  vainglory,  and  with  a  full 
knowledge  of  the  limitation  of  my  representative 
capacity,  I  essay  to  answer  the  third  question  at  the 
head  of  this  chapter. 

The  Afro-American  will  continue  his  struggle  for 
a  mans  place  in  the  sun. 

"God  has  implanted  in  man  an  infinite  progression 
in  the  career  of  improvement.  A  soul  capacitated  for 
improvement  ought  not  to  be  bounded  by  a  tyrant's 
landmarks/' 

We  are  resolved  to  be  ourselves, 

Knowing  well  that  he 
Who  knows  himself  loses  his  misery. 

The  Romans  distinguished  the  cives  ingenui,  or  un 
restricted  citizen,  from  the  jus  quiritium,  the  wailing 
or  supplicating  citizens;  those  who  were  "continually 
mourning,  complaining,  or  crying  for  aid  or  succor." 

The  Negro  has  no  intention  of  abandoning  the 
thorny  road  to  full  citizenship  in  this  his  native  land. 
He  will  struggle  the  more  and  more  earnestly  and 
more  and  more  intelligently  to  deserve  the  considerate 
judgment  of  mankind.  He  is  going  to  lose  the  em 
barrassment  of  self-consciousness  and  cease  to  be  a 
"wailing  citizen." 

UnafTrighted  by  the  forces  around  us 
And  undisturbed  by  the  sights  we  see, 

Self-poised  we'll  live; 
Bounded  by  ourselves,  and  unregardful 
In  what  state  God's  other  works  may  be; 
In  our  own  tasks  all  our  powers  pouring, 
And  thus  attain  our  citizenship  to  be. 


312  American  CMUxMon  and  the  Negro. 

The  Negro  is  going  to  live. 

Notwithstanding  the  prophets,  the  American 
Negro  is  not  going  to  die  out. 

Mr.  P.  A.  Bruce,  in  his  "Rise  of  the  New  South" 
(Philadelphia,  1905),  says:  "The  vaster  the  growth  of 
the  Southern  States  in  wealth  and  white  population, 
the  sharper  and  more  urgent  will  be  the  struggle  of  the 
black  man  for  existence.  In  order  to  hold  even  his 
present  position  as  a  common  laborer  he  will  have  to 
exert  himself  to  the  utmost,  and  in  doing  so  he  will 
have  to  submit  to  a  manner  of  life  that  will  be  even 
more  unwholesome  and  squalid  than  the  one  he  now 
follows,  and  sure  to  lead  to  a  great  increase  in  the 
already  very  high  rate  of  mortality  for  his  race.  The 
day  will  come  in  the  South,  just  as  it  came  long  ago  in 
the  North,  when  for  lack  of  skill,  lack  of  sobriety, 
and  lack  of  persistency,  the  Negro  will  find  it  more 
difficult  to  stand  up  against  the  white  workingman. 
Already  it  is  the  ultimate  fate  of  the  Negro  that  is  in 
the  balance,  not  the  ultimate  fate  of  the  Southern 
States  in  consequence  of  the  presence  of  the  Negro. 
The  darkest  day  for  the  Southern  whites  has  passed. 
The  darkest  day  for  the  Southern  blacks  has  only  just 
begun. "  (Archer.) 

As  civilization  advances  laboring  men,  white  and 
black,  will  stand  less  and  less  against  each  other  and 
more  and  more  with  each  other.  The  laboring  white 
man  is  gathering  the  apples  of  Sodom  for  the  golden 
fruit  of  Hesperides,  if  he  expects  to  secure  his  rights 
by  destroying  the  black  laboring  man's  rights.  The 
wail  of  the  hungry  is  dangerous  music  for  a  banquet. 
The  Negro  intends  to  strive  with  and  not  against  the 
white  man  for  the  advancement  of  this  country. 

Destruction  is  not  nature's  final  decree  in  equity 
for  the  black  man.  Race  prejudice  hopes  that  the  warp 
of  ignorance  and  the  woof  of  disease  will  be  so  placed 


What  Has  the  American  Negro  Done?  313 

in  the  loom  of  civic  oppression  that  time  may  weave  the 
winding  sheet  of  the  Negro  race.  The  people  who  so 
think  are  like  a  German  friend  of  mine  once  said  about 
his  prayers.  He  had  talked  the  value  of  prayer  to  me 
until  under  stress  of  other  duties  my  patience  gave  way 
and  I  petulantly  asked,  "Do  you  ever  get  any  answer 
to  your  prayers  ?"  His  face  lighted  with  an  innocent 
eagerness  that  at  once  soothed  my  irritation  as  he  said, 
"Yes,  yes !  I  answer  him  myself." 

It  is  a  painful  fact  that  those  who  declare  the  Ne 
gro  cannot  utilize  the  agencies  of  modern  civilization 
are  ever  ready  to  block  his  upward  path;  and  while 
prophesying  his  engulfment  in  the  cesspool  of  vice, 
corruption,  and  death,  they  never  reach  an  arm  to 
save. 

But  we  shall  not  die.  The  Negro  doctor  is  ral 
lying  a  successful  army  to  attack  the  strongholds  of 
physical  disease,  the  schoolteachers  and  preachers  are 
keeping  the  passes  against  moral  degeneracy,  and  our 
lawyers  and  civicists,  albeit  somewhat  belated  and  ill- 
equipped,  are  protecting  us  from  political  suicide.  We 
shall  not  die !  The  spirit  of  the  race  was  breathed  in 
the  good  old  revival  song  of  our  fathers : — 

"I  will  go  and  I  shall  go, 
To  see  what  the  end  will  be." 

Sojourner  Truth,  "the  most  singular  and  impres 
sive  figure  of  pure  African  blood  that  has  appeared  in 
modern  times,"  said:  "People  ask  me  how  I  live  so 
long  and  keep  my  mind;  and  I  tell  them  it  is  because 
I  think  of  the  great  things  of  God;  not  the  little 
things." 

She  spoke  for  her  race. 

It  is  not  without  significance  that  the  largest  work 
of  man's  hand  in  the  world  and  the  only  remaining  one 


314  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  ancient  world  is  the  work 
of  Africans.13 

A  knowledge  of  history  should  have  a  restraining 
effect  upon  prophetic  enthusiasm.  History  is  hard  on 
the  prophets  of  tyranny.  Cotton  was  king  and  the 
slave  power  apparently  invincible  when  Mr.  Toombs, 
of  Georgia,  prophesied  that  he  would  call  the  roll  of  his 
slaves  at  the  foot  of  Bunker  Hill.  In  1855  Missis 
sippi  was  dictating  the  nation's  policy  on  the  race 
question  as  it  is  in  1915.  The  right  of  petition  was 
denied  in  the  House  when  Giddings  was  censured,  and 
free  speech  was  challenged  in  the  Senate  when  Sum- 
ner  was  assaulted.  The  execution  of  John  Brown 
wrecked  the  Underground  Railroad,  and  the  Dred 
Scott  Decision  struck  the  note  of  doom  for  the  abo 
litionists.  The  sentiment  of  this  famous  decision,  de 
nying  to  the  slave  and  his  descendants  forever  even  the 
right  of  litigants,  was  so  sweeping  and  revolutionary 
that  it  was  popularly  interpreted  to  mean  that  "the 
Negro  had  no  rights  that  a  white  man  was  bound  to 
respect."  Yet  Lincoln  was  elected,  and  the  slaves 
were  emancipated ;  Judge  Taney  slept  with  his  fathers, 
and  his  successor  in  office,  with  the  acquiesence  of  his 
associates,  admitted  a  Negro  lawyer  to  the  bar  of  that 
august  body.  All  of  this  happened  in  less  than  eight 
years  after  Dred  Scott  was  remanded  to  involuntary 
servitude. 

What  is  coming,  who  can  say?  I  only  know  the 
American  Negro  has  no  intention  of  dying  out;  nor 
of  moving  out.  I  am  speaking  of  present  intentions, 
not  future  contingencies. 

The  Negro  intends  to  stay  in  the  United  States. 

"In  August,  1778,  Adjutant-general  Scammel's 
roster  showed  seven  hundred  fifty-five  free  Negroes  in 


13  Pyramid  of  Ghizeh,  481  feet  high  and  nearly  756  feet  square. 


What  Has  the  American  Negro  Done?  315 

Washington's  main  army  fighting  in  the  line  of  white 
companies."  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  New  Hamp 
shire,  and  even  Maryland,  all  following  the  lead  of 
little  Rhode  Island,  had  Negro  regiments  in  the  Revo 
lutionary  War.  In  1814  Louisiana  furnished  General 
Jackson,  at  his  own  request,  a  levy  of  free  colored 
troops.  Negro  soldiers  shared  the  death  and  disease 
of  more  than  two  hundred  battles  in  our  Civil  War. 
The  blood  of  these  men  was  not  shed  in  vain. 

The  Negro  is  not  going  to  abandon  the  land  which 
his  own  blood  has  hallowed. 

The  Negro  is  going  to  stick  to  his  religion.  He  is 
not  going  to  abandon  his  belief  in  the  human  brother 
hood. 

The  General  Conference  of  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  convened  in  Baltimore,  April,  1826. 
Among  its  deliberations  was  the  trial  of  an  elder  for 
calling  in  a  white  preacher  to  administer  the  sacra 
ment.  He  was  acquitted.  Thus  early  did  the  Negro 
commit  himself  to  racial  comity. 

The  Negro  will  continue  to  grow  in  ethnic  con 
sciousness  and  teach  race  pride  until  he  produces  a 
racial  scholarship  that  will  bring  him  that  positive 
assurance  of  a  respectable  seat  in  the  hierarchy  of 
civilization  as  a  distinct  racial  entity,  and  not  as  the 
tolerated  contamination  of  some  nobler  race.  Racial 
solidarity,  and  not  amalgamation,  is  the  desired  and 
desirable  goal  of  the  American  Negro.  Phyletic  tri 
umph  through  racial  solidarity,  rather  than  phyletic 
oblivion  in  the  Lethean  waters  of  miscegenation,  will 
be  the  teaching  of  that  scholarship. 

The  Negro  will  continue  his  struggle  for  racial 
self -sufficiency. 

Let  us  look  to  nature  for  analogy  and  instruction 
and  hope. 

Down  in  the  sunless  retreats  of  the  ocean — way 


316  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

down,  down,  where  the  sunlight  never  penetrates  and 
eternal  night  holds  sway — in  this  cheerless  region  may 
we  find  a  useful  and  inspiring  lesson.  The  multitu 
dinous  inhabitants  of  this  inhospitable  place  may  be 
divided  into  two  general  classes,  sedentary  and  mi 
gratory;  the  former  have  no  eyes — beautiful  adapta 
tion  of  organism  to  environment — nature's  economy. 
What  use  are  eyes  in  a  region  of  perpetual  darkness  ? 
The  migratory  ones,  however,  not  only  have  eyes,  but 
have  the  power  of  making  a  light.  They  thus  supply 
by  their  own  phosphorescent  energy  that  luminosity 
denied  them  by  the  sun,  because  of  the  intervening 
waters.  It  is  my  hope  that  Negro  scholarship  will  be 
come  self-luminous  with  a  brilliancy  that  will  give  our 
race  correct  historical  perspective,  and  lead  us  to  that 
ethnological  respectability  and  racial  solidarity  which 
the  floods  of  prejudice  have  so  persistently  washed 
beyond  our  grasp.  In  that  hope  I  believe  the  Negro 
will  labor  earnestly,  and  patiently  await  the  triumph  of 
justice. 

Finally,  the  Afro-American  is  going  to  complete 
his  evolution  from  freed  man  to  free  man.  He  is  now 
passing  through  a  period  of  adjustment — racial  mov 
ing,  as  it  were — from  bondage  to  freedom.  The 
freedman  is  becoming  a  freeman.  Losses  always 
attend  moving.  As  we  get  settled  in  the  house  of  free 
dom  we  will  surround  ourselves  with  more  of  the 
virtues  and  fewer  of  the  vices  of  that  condition. 
There  are  distinctive  slave  virtues  that  are  not  virtues 
in  freedom.  All  observers  see  that  the  Negro  is 
throwing  off  the  former;  only  those  associated  with 
the  best  of  the  Negro  race  know  that  he  is  putting  on  a 
glorious  substitute,  the  virtues  of  a  freeman. 

Forced  to  come  against  his  will,  compelled  to  stay 
when  he  wanted  to  go,  the  Negro  has  decided  on 
America  for  his  home.  From  the  politician  he  hears : 


What  Has  the  American  Negro  Done?  317 

"This  is  a  white  man's  country  and  the  white  man  is 
going  to  rule  it."  From  the  preacher  he  learns  that  the 
devil  "is  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air."  (Ephe- 
sians  II,  2.) 

With  the  white  man  ruling  the  ground  and  the 
devil  ruling  the  air,  the  Negro  has  decided  to  stand  still 
and  see  the  salvation  of  God. 

Suppose  we  have  no  historical  antecedents,  what 
then?  Does  this  give  certitude  to  Huxley's  "assur 
edly"  uttered  in  1856?  Conceding  relationship,  but 
not  fraternity,  he  says  of  the  American  freedman: 
"The  highest  place  in  the  hierarchy  of  civilization  will 
assuredly  not  be  within  reach  of  our  dusky  cousins, 
though  it  is  by  no  means  necessary  that  they  should  be 
restricted  to  the  lowest." 

Let  us  see.  If  the  Negro  has  never  made  any  his 
tory  he  has  certainly  been  in  the  white  man's  history 
from  the  beginning  of  that  history.  He  has  won  the 
right  to  the  earth  by  long  residence  if  by  no  other 
right.  He  has  been  here  so  long  that,  in  the  words  of 
Uncle  Remus,  "Twill  time  has  quit  runnin  agin  him." 
This  is  sufficient  answer  to  Ingalls'  lugubrious 
prophecy:  "Destruction  is  nature's  final  decree  in 
equity  for  the  black  man." 

As  black  contains  by  absorption  all  the  colors  of  the 
rainbow,  though  it  does  not  reflect  them ;  so  the  Negro 
has  in  him  all  the  elements  of  civilization  and  may  yet 
reflect  them  as  brilliantly  as  any  of  the  sons  of  men. 
It  is  a  beautiful  metaphor  that  likens  civilization  to 
light.  "The  light  of  civilization"  is  a  phrase  as  sug 
gestive  as  beautiful.  The  similitude  is  apt.  So  let  us 
study  the  action  of  light  closely.  If  all  the  light  falling 
upon  an  object  pass  through  it,  the  object  is  trans 
parent  and  invisible.  Imperfect  transparency  indi 
cates  the  reflection  or  absorption  of  some  of  the 
incident  rays.  Color  arises  the  same  way.  If  all  the 


318  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

rays  are  reflected  the  object  is  opaque  and  white;  if  all 
the  rays  are  absorbed  the  object  is  opaque  and  black. 
So  really  the  white  man  has  no  more  light  than  the 
black  man,  though  he  is  more  luminous.  He  knows  no 
more  of  his  origin  and  nature's  ultimatum  for  him 
than  does  the  black  man. 

Light  needs  to  strike  against  something  to  become 
manifest.  Take  a  cylinder  six  inches  long,  and  painted 
black  within.  Have  a  hole  in  the  side  equidistant  from 
each  end.  Darken  the  room  until  only  a  single  beam 
of  light  is  permitted  to  enter.  Now  place  the  cylinder 
in  the  path  of  this  beam  of  light  in  such  a  way  that  the 
beam  of  light  will  traverse  the  cavity  of  the  cylinder. 
Look  through  the  hole  in  the  side,  and  notwithstanding 
the  evident  fact  that  the  light  is  passing  through  this 
cavity  it  is  completely  dark.  No  trace  of  the  light  is 
visible.  Now  introduce  a  pencil  so  as  to  obstruct  the 
pathway  of  the  beam  and  a  ball  of  light  will  at  once 
appear.  Obstruction  has  made  the  light  manifest. 

The  American  white  man  may  be  the  necessary 
obstruction  to  make  the  Negro  reflect  the  light  of 
civilization. 

The  first  number  of  the  Christian  Recorder, 
the  official  organ  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  issued  in  July  i,  1852,  contained  an  article  by 
a  New  School  Presbyterian  minister,  one  Dr.  J.  W.  C. 
Pennington,  entitled  "The  Destiny  of  the  Colored 
Race  in  the  United  States."  It  opens  as  follows: — 

"It  was  remarked  by  a  distinguished  statesman 
that  the  future  destiny  of  the  colored  race  will  be 
identified  with  the  interests  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race 
in  America.  That  sentiment  will  be  verified.  The 
colored  race  will  never  be  entirely  separated  or  re 
moved  from  this  country  as  a  race,  and  located  some 
where  else.  History  forbids  the  indulgence  of  the 
supposition.  Nowhere  in  the  history  of  nations,  where 


What  Has  the  American  Negro  Done?  319 

slavery  has  existed,  have  the  enslaved  been  entirely 
separated  or  removed  from  the  land  of  their  oppres 
sion,  except  in  the  solitary  instance  of  the  Hebrews 
from  Egypt."14 

After  showing  that  this  was  true  of  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  etc.,  and  admitting  that  some  colored  people 
would  leave  during  the  impending  struggle  between 
truth  and  error,  he  closes  as  follows : — 

"But  the  millions  will  remain  in  this  country,  and 
be  identified  with  the  history  of  the  white  race,  be  that 
history  what  it  may." 

This  is  as  true  today  as  when  written.  The  Negro 
intends  to  stay  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


14  See  Appendix  B. 


"Humanity  appears/  to  move  in  a  confused  med 
ley  of  the  most  diverse  and  composite  forms,  with 
out  any  one  of  them  being  able  to  persist." — DEN- 
IKER,  "The  Races  of  Man,"  p.  120. 

"Oh,  my  friend,  why  will  men  not  see  that  there 
can  be  no  true  civilization  while  any  men  in  the  world 
are  left  out  of  it,  and  that  no  race  or  no  nation  can 
go  far  forward  while  other  races  and  nations  lag 
behind?" — RAY  STANNARD  BAKER. 


(320) 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

RACIAL  DIFFERENCES. 

IN  the  beginning  of  this  work  we  established  three 
fundamental  propositions  in  relation  to  man  gener 
ally:— 

I.  In  his  bodily  makeup  man  is  an  animal.     His 
anatomy  and  physiology  are  practically  identical  with 
that  of  the  higher  animals. 

II.  There   is   an   immense   and   unbridged   gulf 
between  the  lowest  man  and  the  highest  animal.    No 
"missing  link"  has  ever  been  discovered  between  living 
and  non-living  matter,  nor  between  man  and  beast. 

III.  There   are   distinctively   human   traits   and 
faculties  which  no  animal  possesses  and  which  no  type 
of  man,  however  low,  is  without.    This  fact  substan 
tiates  the  second  proposition  and  establishes  a  third, 
namely,  there  is  but  one  species  of  man. 

These  propositions  are  so  firmly  established  that 
no  one  with  any  just  pretense  to  a  scientific  education 
would  attempt  to  dispute  them.  Moreover,  these 
propositions  would  seem  to  furnish  an  impregnable 
foundation  to  the  advanced  political  tenet  that  "all  men 
are  created  equal"  in  three  respects.  "Life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness"  are  common  inheri 
tances. 

Upon  this  impregnable  scientific  foundation  rests 
the  political  wisdom  and  moral  soundness  that  demand 
full  citizenship  rights  for  the  colored  man  in  America. 

But  the  cohorts  of  oppression  lack  neither  inge 
nuity  nor  industry.  They  now  admit  all  three  of  the 
above-mentioned  propositions,  claiming,  however,  that 
while  there  is  but  one  human  family,  nature  has 
favorite  children,  and  that  she  has  written  the  decree 

21  (321) 


322  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

of  favoritism  in  the  tissues  of  their  bodies.  In  other 
words,  they  concede  the  Negro's  theoretical  rights  as 
a  man,  but  deny  his  capabilities  as  a  citizen.  They 
claim  that  the  artifice  of  man  is  built  upon  the  necessity 
of  nature. 

A  careful  scrutiny  of  the  data  of  anthropology, 
however,  will  show  that  nature  has  not  separated  her 
human  children  by  impenetrable  walls.  Racial  dif 
ferences  are  not  innate  and  permanent ;  but  are  super 
ficial,  environmental,  and  transitory.  Race  discrimi 
nation  rests  on  no  firmer  foundation  than  caste 
distinction. 

Humanity  passes  with  facility  from  one  variety  to 
another,  as  it  does  from  one  class  to  another.  From 
whatever  angle  we  approach,  scientific  investigation 
forces  us  to  the  conclusion  that  the  only  just  way  to 
measure  men,  either  physically,  mentally  or  morally, 
is  to  measure"  them  individually.  Society  is  measured 
by  the  individual;  the  development  of  the  individual 
man  is  the  model  of  social  progress. 

The  advocates  of  race  prejudice  have  sought 
assiduously  for  scientific  justification  of  the  tenets  of 
racial  inequality.  Violent  controversialists  are  seldom 
accurate  thinkers.  Whatever  of  truth  they  start  with 
is  apt  to  be  lost  in  the  heat  of  battle.  Where  little  is 
known  much  is  asserted.  The  history  of  thought 
shows  a  strange  relationship  between  vehement  con 
troversy  and  accurate  knowledge.  They  are  mutually 
exclusive.  They  never  do  and  never  can  flourish 
bountifully  in  the  same  field. 

The  average  theorist  is  like  the  little  girl  that  cried 
so  hard  she  forgot  what  she  was  crying  about,  which 
was  then  new  cause  for  weeping. 

We  have  reached  a  stage  of  scientific  knowledge 
when  evolution  is  accepted  as  "an  elementary  truth  at 
the  foundation  of  a  rational  conception  of  the  uni- 


Racial  Differences.  323 


verse."  Yet  wild  theories  of  emotional  ethnology  still 
persist  among  us.  In  the  absence  of  accepted  first 
principles  we  give  loose  reins  to  the  imagination  and 
replace  sober  reasoning  by  extravagant  speculation. 
"The  power  of  error  under  the  mask  of  truth  is  often 
decidedly  greater  than  that  of  truth  itself." 

I. — THERE  ARE  No  PURE  RACES. 

"We  are  loath  to  accept  the  facts  as  they  are. 
Racial  purity  as  a  practical  entity  is  a  myth.  Mankind 
has  been  so  long  on  the  earth,  and  has  been  subject  to 
such  endless  migrations,  displacements,  and  intermin- 
glings  of  all  sorts,  that  in  the  opinion  of  many  sound 
ethnologists  few  if  any  pure  races  now  survive." 
(Keane.) 

Take  the  United  States  as  an  instance.  The  mix 
ing  of  the  whites  and  blacks  is  an  accomplished  fact. 
It  is  estimated  that  the  white  blood  infused  into  the 
Negroes  of  this  country  is  equivalent  to  the  blood  of 
half  a  million  white  people;  and  that  there  is  in  the 
white  race,  through  mixed  bloods  passing  as  white,  the 
equivalent  of  fifty  thousand  full-blooded  black  people. 
According  to  Finot,  "If  the  word  halfbreed  was 
strictly  applied  to  the  progeny  which  has  really  issued 
from  a  mixture  of  varieties,  it  would  be  necessary  to 
include  under  this  denomination  all  human  beings, 
with  rare  exceptions." 

Blumenbach,  true  founder  of  scientific  anthro 
pology,  has  summed  up  the  whole  question  from  the 
physical  standpoint  in  words  that  have  lost  nothing 
of  their  force  since  they  were  penned  a  hundred  years 
ago.  He  asks  whether  everywhere  in  time  or  place 
mankind  has  constituted  one  and  the  same,  or  clearly 
distinct  species;  and  he  concludes:  "Although  be 
tween  distant  people  the  difference  may  seem  so  great 


324  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

that  one  may  easily  take  the  inhabitants  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  the  Greenlanders,  and  Circassians  for 
peoples  of  so  many  different  distinct  species,  neverthe 
less  we  shall  find,  on  due  reflection,  that  all,  as  it  were, 
so  merge  one  into  the  other,  the  human  varieties  pass 
ing  gradually  from  one  to  another,  that  we  shall 
scarcely  if  at  all  be  able  to  determine  any  limits  be 
tween  them." 

There  is  black  blood  in  the  whites  as  assuredly  as 
there  is  white  blood  in  the  blacks. 

Dr.  Frederick  Ratzel  in  his  "Anthropogeographie" 
(human  geography),  speaking  of  the  contact  of  higher 
and  lower  culture,  says:  "The  evil  of  culture  lies  in 
halfness.  ...  In  all  mission  fields  the  observa 
tion  has  been  made  that  those  who  accept  the  European 
customs  entirely,  as  well  as  those  who  live  in  original, 
unbounded  savagery,  suffer  less  than  those  straying 
here  and  there  and  vacillating  between  the  settlements 
of  the  whites  and  their  own  hunting  grounds." 

So  with  our  mixed  bloods,  those  who  become  unre 
servedly  either  white  or  black  prosper  best.  The  least 
happy  and  the  least  successful  are  those  who  play  back 
and  forth  across  the  racial  lines. 

How  to  distinguish  one  race  from  another  is  an 
important  question  in  America  today.  Mankind  has 
been  studied  from  every  angle  to  discover  distinctive 
racial  features.1 

Waitz  says  that  "for  the  classification  of  mankind 
philological  research  has  given  much  more  certain  and 
harmonious  results  than  the  physical  study  of  man." 

Schwiker  concludes  that  "speech  remains  the  most 
conspicuous  distinctive  indication  of  European  affini 


ties." 


1  The  evidence  on  this  subject  is  necessarily  technical.  The  reader 
may  follow  the  thought  by  noting  the  headings  and  reading  the  con 
clusions.  After  completing  the  work  he  may  return  and  examine  the 
evidence  at  leisure. 


Racial  Differences.  325 


Sayce  also  observes  that  "the  physiological  races 
of  the  modern  world  are  far  more  mixed  than  the 
languages  they  speak;  the  physiologist  has  much  more 
difficulty  in  distinguishing  his  races  than  has  the 
glottologist  2  in  distinguishing  his  families  of  speech." 

But  in  the  United  States  practically  all  speak  one 
language ;  in  fact,  there  are  fewer  people  in  the  United 
States  who  can't  speak  English  than  there  are  people 
in  Germany  who  can't  speak  German. 

Keane  wisely  cautions  that  "too  blind  trust  in 
philology  may  lead  to  as  erroneous  results  as  too  blind 
a  trust  in  craniology  or  in  other  physical  characters." 

Racial  distinctions  have  been  sought  in  form,  func 
tion,  and  thought.  The  sciences  of  anatomy,  physi 
ology,  and  psychology  have  been  examined  by  various 
observers  with  a  view  of  finding  ineradicable  racial 
differences.  Thus  an  effort  is  made  to  establish  upon  a 
permanent  scientific  basis  a  doctrine  of  human  inequa 
lity.  Do  the  obvious  inequalities  of  individuals  extend 
to  classes  and  races?  In  other  words,  Are  there  any 
permanently  inferior  or  superior  races? 

Keane  says :  "The  size  as  distinct  from  the  shape 
of  the  skull  gives  its  volume  or  'capacity/  which, 
although  to  be  carefully  distinguished  from  mental 
capacity,  stands,  nevertheless,  in  close  association 
with  mental  characters.  .  .  .  And  if  gradation 
can  here  be  shown  between  the  different  races,  we  shall 
be  able  to  speak  on  solid  grounds  of  high  and  low 
varieties  of  the  Hominidae.3  The  limitations  of  each 
will  also  be  more  closely  seen,  and  the  inherent  in 
equality  of  the  various  members  of  the  human  family 
made  evident  against  the  preconceived  theories  of 
sentimentalists." 

He  thus  places  himself  squarely  on  the  affirmative 


2  One  learned  in  the  Science  of  Languages. 

3  Mankind. 


326  American  Civilization  ami  the  Negro. 

side  of  the  question  and,  while  admitting  the  inade 
quacy  of  the  anatomical  findings  to  substantiate  his 
erroneous  contentions,  appeals  confidently  to  psy 
chology  as  follows:  "A  better  index  of  difference 
between  the  mental  capacity  of  the  various  human 
groups  is  afforded  by  the  reasoning  faculty,  of  which 
articulate  speech  is  at  once  the  measure  and  the  out 
ward  expression.  .  .  .  Linguistic  anthropology 
is  the  'only  science  of  man/ 

To  test  the  validity  of  this  doctrine  of  inequality, 
we  must  examine  the  evidence  offered  by  anatomy, 
physiology,  and  psychology. 

The  word  race  as  we  now  use  it  is  a  modern  word. 
It  was  the  writings  of  Buffon,  Camper,  Blumenbach, 
and  their  contemporaries  and  successors  which  gave  it 
vogue. 

The  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  the 
epoch  of  great  travels  and  fruitful  explorations.  It 
was  likewise  the  epoch  of  the  blossoming  of  the  natural 
sciences.  The  struggle  revolving  round  the  unity  and 
the  plurality  of  the  human  species  set  going  several 
generations  of  savants.  Does  humanity  descend  from 
a  single  primitive  type  (monogenesis),  or  has  it 
several  distinct  ancestors  (polygenesis)  ?  Here  is  a 
quarrel  which  has  brought  us  a  most  imposing  litera 
ture. 

All  the  vicissitudes  of  this  desperate  struggle 
reacted  on  the  sciences  of  races. 

If  the  multiplicity  of  human  origins  had  triumphed, 
what  arguments  there  would  have  been  in  favor  of  the 
superiority  of  certain  human  stocks !  There  was  even 
a  time  when  slave-merchants  and  the  barbarous 
governments  which  protected  their  commerce  used 
polygenesis  to  justify  the  traffic  in  Negroes,  who  were 
regarded  as  having  originated  outside  white  humanity. 

But  the  theory  of  monogenesis  was  established 


Racial  Differences.  327 


with  the  most  convincing  arguments  by  Prichard,  in 
his  classical  "Researches  into  the  Physical  History 
of  Man"  (1837.  5  vols.),  and  in  the  luminous  studies 
of  Quatrefages,  "1'Espece  humaine."  These  two 
authors  completely  exhausted  the  subject. 

The  word  race  is  really  inappropriate  as  a  desig 
nation  of  human  varieties.  The  permanent  character 
istics  of  mankind  are  common  to  all  the  varieties; 
and  the  differences  that  characterise  the  varieties  are 
transitory.  A  man  always  remains  a  man,  but  a  few 
generations  may  change  his  variety.  Five  generations 
of  continued  cross-breeding  will  make  a  black  person 
white,  and  four  generations  of  reverse  crossing  will 
make  him  black  again.  "Intelligence  cements  the 
unity  of  the  human  species.  Its  influence  even  fash 
ions  their  morphology." 


II. — RACIAL  CLASSIFICATION. 

At  the  present  time  it  is  a  vain  task  to  seek  distinc 
tive  characteristics  among  certain  products  of  Negroes 
crossed  with  whites.  Their  resemblance  to  the  whites 
in  the  United  States  baffles  every  artifice  resorted  to  in 
order  to  recognize  them.  Dr.  Pearce  Kintzing  proved 
by  over  five  hundred  experiments  the  falsity  of  being 
able  to  detect  Negro  blood  by  the  color  of  the  nails. 
A  rather  wide  personal  experience  of  the  author  in 
genito-urinary  medical  practice  convinces  him  of  the 
equal  falsity  of  the  claim  of  a  persistent  distinctive 
coloration  of  the  genitals. 

Blumenbach  divided  mankind  into  five  races:  the 
Caucasian,  Mongolian,  Malay,  American,  and  African, 
or  "Ethiopian."  Cuvier,  wrhile  retaining  Blumenbach's 
word  "Caucasian,"  admits  only  three  instead  of  five: 
Caucasian,  Mongolian,  and  Negro.  Bory  de  Saint- 


328  .lincrican  Cii'itization  and  the  Negro. 

Vincent,  starting  from  the  position  that  Adam  was 
only  the  father  of  the  Jews,  divided  humanity  into  fif 
teen  species,  and  these  in  their  turn  into  a  number  of 
races  and  sub-races. 

Subsequently  the  classification  in  being,  multiplied 
and  ramified  to  suit  the  convenience  of  savants  and  of 
their  more  or  less  exact  notions  of  human  conforma 
tion  and  qualities,  varied  from  the  three  races  of 
Cuvier,  the  four  of  Leibnitz  and  Kant,  and  the  nine 
centers  of  Agassiz,  and  at  length  reached  a  hundred. 
Even  a  hundred  and  twenty  have  been  proclaimed  in 
certain  anthropological  congresses. 

Isadore  Goeffroy  Saint-Hilaire  divided  human 
beings  into  Orthognathic4  (oval  face  with  vertical 
jaws),  Eurygnathic  (high  cheek-bones,  Mongolian 
type),  Prognathic  (projecting  jaws,  Ethiopian  type), 
Eurygnathic  and  Prognathic  (cheek-bones  far  apart, 
projecting  jaws,  Hottentot  type).  All  of  these 
types  are  readily  seen  among  Afro- Americans. 

Gratiolet  distinguished  Frontal,  Parietal,  and  Oc 
cipital  races,  characterized  by  the  prominence  of  the 
front,  middle,  and  back  parts  of  the  skull  and  brain. 

According  to  Huxley,  men  are  divided  into  two 
capital  sections:  the  Ulotrichi?  with  woolly  hair,  and 
the  Leiotrichi,®  with  smooth  hair. 

As  the  science  of  man  develops,  the  desire  to  clas 
sify  and  simplify  the  collected  facts  encourages  more 
and  more  numerous  demarcations  of  men. 

As  morphology  is  no  longer  sufficient  for  this  task, 


4  "The  profile  of  the  face  of  the  Calmuck  is  almost  vertical,  the 
facial  bones  being  thrown  downward  and  under  the  fore  part  of  the 
skull.     The  profile  of  the  Negro,  on  the  other  hand,  is  singularly  in 
clined,  the  front  part  of  the  jaw  projecting  far  forward  beyond  the 
level  of  the  fore  part  of  the  skull.    In  the  former  case  the  skull  is  said 
to  be  orthognathous,  or  straight-jawed;  in  the  latter  it  is  called  prog 
nathous,  a  term  that  has  been  rendered  with  more  force  than  elegance 
by  the  Saxon  equivalent — snouty."    (Huxley,  "Man's  Place  in  Nature.") 

5  From  two  Greek  words  meaning  woolly  and  hair. 

6  From  two  Greek  words  meaning  smooth  and  hair. 


Prominent  colored  men,  full-blood  and  mixed-blood.    Which  is  which? 


Racial  Differences.  329 


they  have  recourse  to  the  psychological  and  mental 
life  in  order  to  find  in  them  new  standpoints.  Thus 
it  is  that  the  ideal  tendencies  and  aspirations  of  human 
beings  are  taken  into  account,  and  so  contribute  to 
render  more  difficult  the  pass  in  which  the  classifiers 
find  themselves.  Among  the  anthropo-psychologists 
the  number  of  divisions  becomes  incalculable;  for 
fancy  and  caprice  replace  in  a  decided  manner  the 
measurements  of  the  savants.  We  remember  in  this 
connection  the  attempts  of  M.  Fetis  to  divide  humanity 
according  to  the  musical  systems  of  its  representa 
tives,  and  that  of  Cesar  Daly  advocating,  with  the 
same  object  in  view,  the  differences  according  to 
Architectonic1  works. 

The  systematic  study  of  the  salient  parts  of  our 
organism  allows  us  to  grasp  vividly  the  difficulties 
which  the  science  of  races  has  to  combat. 


III. — THE  SKULL. 

The  war  of  anatomical  classification  has  naturally 
enough  raged  about  the  skull;  craniometry  (measur 
ing  the  bare  skull),  with  its  fellow  cephalometry 
(measuring  the  whole  head  of  living  beings  or 
corpses),  has  assumed  the  dominating  place  in  anthro 
pology.  This  literature  overflows  with  errors  and 
dogmatisms.  It  would  require  a  large  volume  even 
to  summarize  it.  Finot  accurately  and  fairly  sums  up 
the  matter  and  expresses  my  views:  "What  conclu 
sions  can  be  drawn  from  this  except  that  all  these 
craniological  measurements  teach  us  almost  nothing 
concerning  the  mental  capacity  and  the  moral  value  of 
peoples?  .  .  .  Immediately,"  says  he,  in  an 
other  place,  "we  admit  the  possibility  of  the  evolution 

7  Pertaining  to  architecture ;  hence,  pertaining  to  construction  or 
design  of  any  kind. 


330  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

of  the  brain  under  the  influence  of  occupation,  cranio- 
logical  differentiation  loses  its  force.  The  truth  is  that 
the  skull  and  the  brain  furnish  no  arguments  in  favor 
of  organic  inequality" 

IV.— THE  FACE. 

Nor  does  examination  of  the  face  give  any  better 
results.  With  the  exception  of  those  organically  dis 
eased,  normal  humanity  is  with  difficulty  divided  into 
clearly  marked  categories.  Prognathism  ought,  in 
the  eyes  of  its  authors,  to  correspond  with  a  nobleness 
or  baseness  of  origin,  with  a  superior  intellectuality, 
or  one  which  is  limited  forevermore.  For  progna- 
thism  is  an  hereditary  stain  and  serves  as  a  distinction 
between  the  privileged  races  and  pariahs. 

Prognathism,  as  we  know,  is  the  protuberance  of 
the  face  in  front  of  the  brain,  in  the  horizontal  posi 
tion  of  the  skull.  This  slight  inclination  of  the  facial 
profile  can  only  be  measured  at  first  with  much  diffi 
culty.  On  the  other  hand,  it  has  scarcely  any  relation 
with  the  development  of  the  brain.  Prognathism  pre 
sents  a  whole  series  of  variations,  beginning  with  that 
which  is  limited  to  the  nasal  region,  such  as  is  met 
with  so  often  in  Jews,  and  to  the  modifications  which 
include  the  super-  and  sub-  nasal  regions.  Therefore, 
those  who  consider  prognathism  as  signifying  lack  of 
intelligence,  or  simply  inferiority  of  mind,  allow  too 
much  to  the  Jews,  who  are  prognathic. 

Moreover,  all  the  classical  types  which  are  placed 
before  us  as  models  of  plastic  beauty  and  moral  char 
acter  are  abundantly  endowed  with  it.  We  elsewhere 
meet  with  the  so  much  dreaded  prognathism  among 
royal  families,  like  the  Bourbons,  who  ought  exactly 
to  combine  nobility  of  birth  and  superiority  of  origin. 

The  wider  observation  of  prognathism  discovers 


Racial  Differences.  331 


it  under  all  latitudes  and  among  all  peoples.^  Certain 
of  its  most  accentuated,  forms  are  merely  to  be  found 
in  immediate  correspondence  with  stature.  After 
careful  observation  and  study  I  am  convinced  that  not 
more  than  10  per  cent,  of  American  Negroes  are  pro 
nouncedly  prognathic. 

Deductions  from  the  form  of  the  face  and  the 
theory  of  angles  give  no  better  results.  Of  these  the 
facial  angle  of  Pierre  Camper9  is  the  best  known. 
According  to  this  the  whites  have  a  facial  angle  of 
85  degrees,  the  yellow  80  degrees,  and  the  blacks  75 
degrees.  He  would  thus  make  a  difference  of  5  de 
grees  define  a  race :  yet  Jacquart  demonstrated  a  dif 
ference  of  10  degrees  among  the  white  inhabitants  of 
Paris. 

In  addition  to  the  facial  angle,  anthropometry 
offers  us  a  quantity  of  others  due  to  the  ingenuity  of 
savants  of  all  lands. 

Let  us  note  some  of  them  as  they  come  to  our 
mind:  the  sphenoidal  angle  of  Welcker,  the  cranio- 
facial  angle  of  Huxley  and  of  Ecker,  the  parietal  angle 
of  Quatrefages,  the  angle  of  Barclay,  the  metafacial 
angle  of  Serres,  the  angle  of  the  condyles,  the  naso- 
basal  angle  of  Virchow  and  Welcker,  etc.  However 
curious  the  results  obtained  by  this  numerous  series 
of  measurements  may  be,  they  all  resemble  one  an 
other  from  that  special  point  of  view  which  for  our 

8  Shortly  after  writing  the  above  I  had  occasion  to  notice  a  gang 
of  men  doing  public  work,  twenty  colored  men  and  four  white  ones. 
The  colored  men  varied  in  complexion  from  quite  black  to  nearly  white. 
A  study  of  their  features  was  intensely  interesting.     I  was  so  situated 
that  I  got  a  good  profile  view  several  times  of  each  individual.     The 
most  nearly  orthognathous  individual  in  the  group  was  nearly  black 
and,  beyond  all  cavil  or  doubt,  the  most  prognathous  person  was  one 
of  the  white  foremen. 

9  "The  angle  of  Camper  is  formed  by  two  lines,  one  horizontal  from 
the  auditive  canal  to  the  root  of  the  nose;  the  other  tangent,  called 
facial,  from  the  forehead  to  the  nasal  bone.     In  other  words,  one  of 
the  lines  is  from  the  auditive  aperture  to  the  lower  edge  of  the  nostrils, 
and  the  other  is  to  the  most  salient  points  of  the  face,  the  top  of  the 
forehead,  and  the  anterior  face  of  the  two  lower  incisors." 


332  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

present  purpose  is  foremost.  They  do  not  allow  us 
"to  seriate"  humanity  into  superior  and  inferior  races. 
And  if  they  fail  to  establish  irreducible  differences 
between  races,  they  only  end  in  securing  the  triumph 
of  the  theory  of  individual  differences  which  divide 
human  beings,  and  which  nobody  disputes. 

"Space  will  not  even  permit  a  definition  of  these 
angles,  much  less  a  technical  discussion  of  the  attempts 
to  determine  the  length,  breadth,  and  thickness  of  the 
face.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  orbital  index,  popular 
ized  by  Broca,10  enjoyed  and  still  continues  to  enjoy 
a  certain  success.  It  is  concerned  with  the  measure 
which  is  obtained  in  the  following  manner :  After  hav 
ing  measured  the  vertical  diameter  of  the  orbit,  the 
result  obtained  is  multiplied  by  100  and  is  after 
ward  divided  by  the  horizontal  diameter.  From  this 
standpoint  Broca  divided  humanity  into  three  races 
according  to  the  size  of  the  index  thus  obtained,  viz., 
the  Megasemes,11  whose  average  index  is  89  and 
over;  the  Mesosemes,  83  to  89,  and  the  Microsemes, 
below  83.  But  when  we  pass  from  these  classes  to 
their  concrete  application,  we  perceive  here  also,  as 
elsewhere,  that  nature  has  not  willed  to  establish  privi 
leged  human  races.  The  figures  of  the  orbital  index 
are  displaced  in  a  capricious  way,  and  bring  together 
peoples  and  races  separated  in  our  eyes  by  great 
gulfs.  .  .  .  The  Parisians,  tread  arm-in-arm 
with  Negroes  and  Hottentots,"  etc.  (Finot.) 


V.— THE  NOSE. 

The  Nose  has  also  been  examined  with  a  view  to 
establishing  racial  distinction. 


i°"Sur  1'Indice  orbitaire,"  Rev.  d'Anthrop.,  1879. 
11  These  words  are  from  the  Greek.     The  last  part  of  each  means 
sign  and  the  first  part  "great,"  "medium,"  and  "small,"  respectively. 


Racial  Differences.  333 


Broca,  starting  from  the  relation  of  the  maximum 
width  of  the  nose  to  its  total  height,  has  gone  so  far 
as  to  attempt  to  divide  humanity  into  three  different 
sections :  men  with  long  and  narrow  nose,  the  leptor- 
rhinians  (thin-nosed),  corresponding  to  the  white 
race;  the  platyrrhinians  (broad-nosed),  with  wide 
and  low  nose,  a  characteristic  peculiar  to  the  black 
races;  and,  lastly,  the  mesorrhinians  (middle-nosed), 
comprising  the  yellow  races. 

He  develops  a  nasal  index,  with  the  white  man  as 
the  norm  or  measure. 

After  having  multiplied  by  100  the  width  of  the 
nose  taken  at  the  opening  of  the  nasal  chambers,  he 
compared  it  with  the  length  between  the  spine  and  the 
nasofrontal  articulation.  The  result  is  what  he  calls 
the  nasal  index.  The  mean  of  the  nasal  index  is  50, 
but  it  varies  according  to  races  from  42.33  to  58.38. 

While  the  nose  is  an  important  and  prominent 
organ  and  is,  in  a  certain  measure,  an  index  to  indi 
vidual  character,  it  furnishes  nothing  of  any  value  as 
an  aid  to  racial  division. 

VI.— THE  EARS. 

Ears,  like  noses,  vary  to  infinitude  in  individuals, 
but  not  in  races ;  and  all  attempts  to  deduce  racial  char 
acteristics  from  the  formation  of  the  ear  have  proved 
unavailing. 

A  conclusion  forces  itself  on  us  when  we  compare 
the  results  obtained  by  the  measurements  of  all  parts 
of  the  head.  It  is  that  the  skull,  which  is  subject  to 
variations,  leaves  an  impression  during  its  evolution 
on  the  face  which  is  only  its  complement.  Conse 
quently,  inasmuch  as  we  no  longer  see  about  us  any 
races  which  are  clearly  defined  from  a  craniological 
point  of  view,  it  is  impossible  that  there  can  be  any 


334  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

such  races  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  other  measure 
ments  taken  from  the  component  parts  of  the  head. 
The  differences  among  individuals  belonging  to  the 
same  human  variety  are  thus  always  greater  tlian 
those  perceived  among  races  regarded  as  distinct  units 
in  themselves. 

VIL— THE  BODY. 

The  study  of  bodily  characteristics  for  distinctively 
racial  features  has  been  equally  fruitless.  The  height 
of  the  body,  the  weight  of  the  body,  the  length  of  the 
limbs,  the  structure  of  the  feet,  the  color  of  the  skin, 
the  color  and  texture  of  the  hair;  the  development  of 
the  muscular  system,  the  deposits  of  fat;  the  size, 
shape,  and  consistency  of  the  breasts;  the  color  and 
shape,  position  and  size  of  the  genitalia;  the  composi 
tion  of  the  blood,  and  the  histological  structure  of  the 
skin  have  all  been  scanned  in  vain  for  some  definitely 
racial  organ  or  quality.  Anatomy  discloses  no  dis 
tinctively  human  structure  that  is  not  common  to  the 
species  wherever  found,  neither  does  it  discover  a 
single  structural  characteristic  peculiar  to  any  one 
human  variety. 

VIII. — FUNCTION. 

Physiology  is  equally  against  the  advocates  of 
inherent  inequality. 

"The  physiology  of  man  is  the  same  in  the  case  of 
all  his  representatives;  he  who  would  speak  of  a  special 
physiology  of  yellow  men,  or  black  men,  would  run  the 
risk  of  making  himself  ridiculous.  Far  from  seeking 
distinctions  of  all  sorts  under  this  heading,  we  find 
completest  harmony  of  all  physiological  functions 
among  all  the  representatives  of  humanity,  whatever 
their  race  or  color.  Their  functions  of  breathing  and 


Racial  Differences.  335 


digesting,  the  period  of  gestation  and  of  growth 
through  successive  phases  of  age,  in  one  word,  the 
evolution  of  their  physiological  life  between  the  two 
most  solemn  moments  of  their  terrestrial  existence, 
birth  and  death,  undergo  the  same  laws."  (Finot.) 

The  functions  of  nutrition  and  assimilation,  the 
temperature  of  the  body,  the  capacity  of  the  lungs  and 
the  respiratory  function,  the  circulation  of  the  blood, 
muscular  force,  gestures  serving  to  express  emotions, 
the  attitude  of  the  body,  the  acuteness  of  the  special 
senses,  the  functions  of  reproduction,  the  climacteric  or 
change  of  life,  and  the  fertility  of  women  have  been 
examined  for  distinctively  racial  characteristics,  but  to 
no  purpose. 

All  attempts  at  dividing  humanity  according  to 
faculty  of  speech,  singing,  good  sight,  good  hearing  or 
good  smelling  have  completely  failed.  All  kinds  of 
varieties  are  found  in  all  races. 

All  men  are  equal  physiologically  at  their  birth, 
and  never  cease  to  be  so  till  they  die.  Death  appears 
everywhere  under  the  same  conditions.  The  mean 
duration  of  human  life  varies,  particularly  owing  to 
climate,  comfort  and  hygiene,  and  not  because  of  racial 
differences.  It  is  our  way  of  living,  not  our  way  of 
being  born,  which  lengthens  or  shortens  life.  Lon 
gevity  is  sometimes  hereditary,  but  the  same  phenom 
enon  is  found  both  among  civilized  and  uncivilized. 
Health  stored  up  by  the  parents  often  profits  the  chil 
dren,  but  it  is  a  capital  which  is  not  very  secure,  and 
one  which  a  second  generation  may  tamper  with  and 
squander. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  racial  immunity  or  sus 
ceptibility  to  disease.  Immunity  and  susceptibility  are 
both  products  of  environment  that  affect  humanity 
individually  and  not  racially.  Health  and  disease,  like 
birth  and  death,  are  endured  individually. 


336  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 


IX.— ART. 

Art,  as  well  as  science  and  religion,  has  its  apostles 
of  inequality. 

The  measurements  of  artists  have  preceded  those 
of  anthropologists  by  many  centuries.  Under  their 
influence  came  the  conception  of  artistic  beauty,  which 
has  not  failed  to  leave  its  traces  on  anthropological 
canons. 

"The  study  of  man  as  well  as  the  comparisons  of 
human  beings  having  been  established  and  directed 
by  white  men,  it  follows  that  all  the  traits  observed  in 
and  among  Whites  are  thereby  idealized  and  regarded 
as  essentially  superior.  The  idea  of  beauty  being  es 
sentially  subjective,  there  is  nothing  astonishing  in 
the  fact  that  everywhere  and  always,  whenever  Whites 
have  been  engaged  in  its  definition,  they  have  bor 
rowed  its  essentials  from  their  immediate  surround 
ings.  Starting  from  this  basis,  they  have  declared  all 
human  types  beautiful  or  ugly  which  approximate  or 
diverge  from  formulas  established  by  white  artists  and 
authors,  from  white  exemplars"  (Finot.) 

We  are  born  with  certain  sentiments  of  plastic 
beauty,  engendered  by  tradition  and  the  opinions  of 
those  who  surround  us.  The  sheepish  nature  of  man 
rarely  revolts  against  admitted  ideas  which  often 
equal  in  force  innate  ideas.  We  find  beautiful  every 
thing  which  those  who  are  before  us  find  beautiful. 
This  applies  to  women,  pictures,  and  masterpieces  of 
sculpture.  Which  of  us  has  not  admired  the  plastic 
beauty  of  Laocoon?12  Yet  his  right  leg  is  much 
shorter  than  the  left,  whereas,  obviously  to  keep  him 
company,  one  of  his  children  has,  on  the  contrary,  a 
"more  pronounced"  right  leg. 

12  A  famous  Greek  statue  in  the  Vatican,  Rome,  showing  the  priest 
of  Apollo  and  his  two  sons. 


Racial  Differences.  337 


G.  Audran13  makes  this  curious  remark,  that  in 
the  most  beautiful  figures  of  antiquity  details  are 
found  which  would  be  readily  regarded  as  faults  if 
found  in  the  work  of  a  modern.  Apollo,  for  example, 
has  the  left  leg  too  long  by  about  nine  lines :  the  Venus 
of  Medici  has  the  "curved  leg  longer  by  about  three 
lines  than  that  on  which  she  stands,"  etc. 

It  would  be  intensely  interesting  to  study  the 
various  canons  of  beauty  of  different  ages,  races14 
and  individuals.  For  Ch.  Blanc  the  length  of  the  body 
equals  30  noses  or  7^2  heads.  For  Gerdy,  32  noses 
and  8  heads.  Here  is  Blanc's  canon: — 


HeadJ 


Height 

[  The  crown  to  the  hair's  limit,  %  head  . .     3.3 

Hair  to  root  of  nose 3.3 

Root  of  nose  to  its  base   3.3 

I  Base  of  nose  to  below  chin 3.3 

Neck    6.6 

Trunk    30.0 

Lower  limbs  50.0 

99.8 

But  nature,  which  takes  no  account  of  our  canons 
of  beauty,  nearly  always  diverges  from  them.  Not 
willing  to  regard  as  false  our  particular  conceptions 
as  to  the  proportions  of  the  different  parts  of  the  body, 
we  declare  those  which  diverge  from  them  to  be  ugly 
or  inferior. 

The  Negroes,  whom  it  is  desired  to  place  at  the 
bottom  of  the  human  scale,  are  in  many  respects  much 
more  removed  from  monkeys  than  the  purest  whites. 

It  is  enough  to  confront  human  beings  in  their 
many  aspects  to  perceive  that  nature  does  not  recog- 

13  "Les  Proportions  du  Corps  humain,"  Paris,  1693. 

14  One  of  the  interesting  phases  of  race  evolution  in  America  is  the 
developing  by  the  colored  people  of  independent  canons  of  beauty.    The 
cover  pictures  of  The  Crisis  magazine  and  the  beauty  contests  of  the 
New  York  Age  are  illustrations. 

22 


338  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

nize  superior  and  inferior  races.  This  gradation, 
which  means  nothing  physiologically,  is  equally  inad 
missible  esthetically. 

The  fable  which  is  current  on  the  subject  of  the  tail 
attributed  to  savage  or  primitive  peoples  can  be  turned 
against  the  whites  themselves.  This  anomaly,  due  to 
troubles  in  embryonic  evolution,  is,  according  to  Bar- 
tels'  studies,  especially  frequent  among  the  whites;  not 
that  these  are  themselves  "inferior,"  but  simply  be 
cause  of  the  special  care  given  to  the  deformed,  who 
among  primitive  peoples  perish  so  easily,  left  as  they 
are  to  their  own  resources. 

Negroes  who  from  all  time  have  enjoyed  the  sorry 
privilege  of  passing  as  the  race  nearest  the  monkeys 
have  had  the  advantage,  among  other  things,  of  a 
defect  with  which  certain  anthropologists  lightly  re 
proach  them.  For,  as  Burmeister  and  so  many  others 
tell  us,  not  only  have  they  very  long  arms,  but  these 
even  exceed  the  length  of  their  lower  limbs.15  It  will 
be  understood  that  under  these  conditions  they  would 
only  have  to  use  their  hands  to  walk  like  monkeys. 
Place  their  front  limbs  at  right  angles  on  the  ground 

15  The  official  measurements  of  Jack  Johnson  (black)  and  of  Jess 
Willard  (white)  heavy-weight  pugilists,  as  published  in  Associated 
Press  dispatches,  are  instructive. 

"Physicians  tonight  took  the  measurements  of  the  pugilists;  this  is 
how  they  stand : — 
JOHNSON.  WILLARD. 

6  feet  Y-2.  inch Height 6  feet  6  inches. 

225  pounds Weight 243  pounds. 

73^  inches Reach 83%  inches. 

40      inches Chest  normal 39      inches. 

43^  inches Chest  expanded 44^  inches. 

38      inches Waist 37      inches. 

15      inches Biceps  normal 14      inches. 

17f6  inches Biceps  flexed 15j^  inches. 

17      inches Neck 17%  inches. 

67/8  inches Wrist 8%  inches. 

25      inches Thigh 25^  inches. 

ISM  inches Calf 17#  inches. 

9      inches Ankle 9l/2  inches. 

No.  11 Size  shoe No.  10. 

38 Age 28." 


Racial  Differences.  339 


with  fingers  stretched  out,  and  behold,  animals  with 
four  feet!  But  this  mirage  of  Negro-monkeys  has 
vanished  since  impartial  comparisons  have  been 
started.  Let  us  remember,  first  of  all,  that  the  length 
of  the  arms  surpassing  that  of  the  legs  among  Negroes 
is  a  pure  myth,  and,  what  is  more  important,  that  the 
differences  between  the  races  measured  in  this  respect 
never  exceed  8.9  per  cent.,  whereas  they  attain  13.8 
among  representatives  of  different  professions  in  the 
same  country.  And  if  one  persists  absolutely  in 
making  this  trait  a  mark  of  monkey  ugliness,  we  must 
acknowledge,  what  Ranke  confirms,  namely,  that  the 
French  and  Germans  are  in  this  matter  nearer  the 
monkeys  than  the  Negroes,  Australians,  or  Bushmen. 
The  English  and  French  are  on  the  same  level  as 
Negroes,  whereas  much  below  Negroes  and  other 
primitive  peoples  must  be  counted  the  Chinese. 

In  general,  as  we  study  human  beings  in  the  mat 
ter  of  regularity  and  harmony  of  features,  we  perceive 
the  great  influence  exercised  by  their  daily  occupations. 
Gould,  in  comparing  bodily  proportions  among  divers 
representatives  of  the  American  people,  states  that 
there  are  greater  differences  betzveen  sailors,  agri 
culturists,  and  men  of  culture  than  between  Negroes, 
Redskins,  and  Whites. 

Among  civilized  peoples  the  intellectual  classes, 
quite  apart  from  the  color  of  skin,  are  distinguished  by 
a  relatively  longer  trunk,  shorter  extremities,  and 
more  voluminous  head. 

According  to  our  ideas  of  beauty,  what  contributed 
to  enhance  our  esthetic  value  is  the  difference  of  the 
diameters  of  chest,  hips,  and  waist.  Now,  in  this 
respect  numerous  Negro  tribes  surpass  the  English 
themselves. 

Racial  inequality  reaches  the  climax  of  absurdity 
in  the  mutual  recriminations  about  personal  odor,  each 


340  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

race  declaring  the  other  smells  bad ;  the  Japanese  find 
the  whites  as  offensive  as  the  whites  find  the  blacks. 
Finot  shrewdly  observes :  "Americans  no  longer  com 
plain  of  odor  among  certain  Negroes,  not  because 
they  have  lost  the  capacity  of  smelling  it,  but  merely 
because  the  Negroes  who  surround  them  have  entirely 
lost  it.  They  no  doubt  exhale  another  odor  like  that 
of  their  neighbors,  for  which  reason  these  last  are  no 
longer  affected  by  it." 

Diet,  cleanliness,  and  environment  control  the  per 
sonal  odor  of  individuals  in  all  races. 


X. — COLOR  AND  ENVIRONMENT. 

Man  is  a  creature  of  environment,  or,  as  the 
French  call  it,  milieu.  All  of  the  features  which  we 
call  the  physical  criteria  of  a  race  are  the  result  of  this 
force. 

According  to  Virchow,  the  milieu  wherein  a  per 
son  lives  makes  him  brown  or  fair.  Primer16  has 
shown  that  Europeans  dwelling  in  Egypt  become 
darker  at  the  end  of  a  certain  time ;  in  Abyssinia  they 
develop  a  bronze  tint;  in  the  highlands  of  Syria  a 
reddish  tint,  etc.  As  a  boy  I  noticed  the  dark  com 
plexion  of  British  soldiers' after  long  service  in  India. 
According  to  Sir  Harry  Johnston,  the  American 
Negro  is  developing  a  lighter  color.  ("Negro  in  New 
World,"  p.  462.) 

Waitz17  claims  the  color  of  the  skin  is  especially 
due  to  heat,  nourishment,  atmospheric  humidity,  the 
abundance  or  scarcity  of  forests,  and  also  geographical 
latitude.  The  Negroes  of  Bongo  have  skins  nearly 
red  from  the  color  of  the  soil  of  their  country,  which  is 


Krankheiten  des  Orients. 
W  Anthropologie  der  Naturvvlker. 


Racial  Differences.  341 


impregnated  with  iron  ore.  And  Livingstone  says  the 
humid  heat  deepens  the  coloration  of  the  Negro  popu 
lations  of  Africa,  and  Simpson18  affirms  the  same  as 
to  the  Jews,  whose  complexions  vary  from  the  white 
of  Caucasians  to  the  black  of  Negroes. 

We  are  developing  two  distinct  race  types  in 
America.  There  is  a  white  type19  tinctured  with 
black  blood  and  a  black  type  inoculated  with  white 
blood ;  though  the  direct  mixing  is  now  practically  at 
an  end. 

The  American  white  man  today  is  not  a  European 
and  the  American  black  man  is  not  an  African.  New 
conditions  have  made  a  new  race.  The  mixing  has 
been  done. 

Todd20  tells  us  that  the  true  Yankee  is  to  be  dis 
tinguished  from  the  Englishman  by  the  pointed  and 
angular  cut  of  his  face.  He  approaches  the  aborigines 
of  America,  and  is  also  marked  by  this  characteristic 
trait  that  the  lower  part  of  his  face  is  almost  square, 
as  opposed  to  the  oval  form  of  the  Englishman.  Knox 
has  noticed  among  the  Yankees  the  diminution  of  the 
adipose  tissue  and  the  glandular  apparatus,  while 
Desor  mentions  a  lengthening  of  the  neck. 

Primer-Bey  states  that  the  Anglo-American  shows 
from  the  second  generation  characteristics  of  the 
Indian  type,  which  bring  him  nearer  to  the  Lenni- 
Lenapes,  Iroquois,  and  Cherokees.  Later  on  the 
glandular  system  is  reduced  to  the  minimum  of  its 
normal  development.  The  skin  becomes  dry  like 
leather,  losing  its  glow  of  complexion  and  redness  of 
cheek,  which  are  replaced  by  a  muddy  tint  and  among 
women  by  an  insipid  pallor.  The  head  becomes  smaller 
or  rounded  and  pointed,  being  covered  with  hair, 


18  "Narrative  of  a  Journey  Around  the  World." 

19  A.  Murray,  "The  Geographical  Distribution  of  Mammals." 

20  "Cycl.  of  Anat.  and  Physiol.,"  iv. 


342  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

smooth  and  dark  in  color.  The  neck  lengthens.  There 
is  observed  a  large  development  of  the  zygomatic 
bones.  The  eyes  sink  deeply  into  the  sockets  and  are 
somewhat  close  to  each  other.  The  iris  is  dark.  The 
bones  become  particularly  elongated  at  their  upper 
extremity,  so  much  so  that  France  and  England  manu 
facture  a  peculiar  kind  of  glove  for  North  America,  the 
fingers  of  which  are  exceptionally  long. 

The  pelvis  of  the  woman  becomes  like  that  of  the 
man.21  And  wrhile  Jarrold  recognizes  this  influence  of 
milieu  even  in  their  unmelodious  voices,22  Kriegk23 
dwells  on  their  thinness  and  pallor  and  also  on  their 
precocious  development  physically  and  intellectually. 

This  is  the  result  of  what  may  be  called  natural 
environment,  but  man  in  a  measure  creates  his  own 
environment.  This  in  turn  reacts  upon  those  subject 
to  it. 

The  moral  causes,  such  as  liberty  which  people 
enjoy,  the  consideration  of  which  they  are  assured, 
and  the  wholesome  sentiment  of  equality  before  the  law 
and  the  respect  of  human  dignity,  the  instruction 
which  is  given  them,  the  national  system  of  taxation 
which  contributes  to  their  comfort,  the  facility  of  in 
ternal  and  external  communications,  the  way  in  which 
the  State  exercises  its  privileges  and  monopolies,  jus- 


21  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  according  to  the  disciples  of  racial 
inferiority  this  is  one  of  the  anatomical  peculiarities  of  a  low  race. 
Here  is  a  list  of  anatomical  traits  "more  or  less  Simioid"  as  indefinite 
as  false: — 

"1.  Cranial  sutures  simple  and  uniting  early. 

2.  Nasal  aperture  wide,  with  nasal  bones  ankylosed. 

3.  Jaws  unduly  projecting  and  chin  receding. 

4.  Wisdom  teeth  well  developed,  appearing  early  and  permanent. 

5.  Humerus  unduly  long  and  perforated. 

6.  Calcaneum  (heel-bone)  elongated. 

7.  Tibia  flattened. 

8.  Pelvis  narrow."     (Shute,  D.  K.,  "Racial  Anatomical  Peculiari 
ties,"  American  Anthro.,  vol.  ix.)1     (1896.) 

22  "Anthropology,  or  On  the  Form  and  Colour  of  Man." 

23  Luddes,  Zeit.  fur  Erdkunde,  i,  484. 


Racial  Differences.  343 


tice  which  respects  all  the  legitimate  aspirations  of 
citizens,  and  as  many  other  conditions  of  a  healthy 
development  of  a  country,  have  all  likewise  their 
counter-effect  on  the  physiological  formation  of  human 
beings. 

Here  are  certain  striking  examples : — 

Norton24  assures  us  that  in  the  country  studied  by 
him  the  Negro  children  born  in  liberty  have  more 
beautiful  eyes,  a  more  elegant  appearance,  and  an 
easier  bearing  like  that  of  Europeans,  than  in  the 
countries  where  they  are  ill-treated.  The  same  remark 
has  been  made  by  Lewis  and  d'Orbigny.  Day25  im 
proves  on  this  fact,  and  states  that  Negroes  who  hold 
higher  situations  are  distinguished  by  their  features,26 
which  resemble  those  of  the  Caucasian  races,  and  are 
not  unlike  those  of  very  dark  Jews. 

Lyell,  in  his  account  of  his  second  voyage  to  the 
United  States,  tells  us  that  Negroes  who  have  had  con 
tinual  relations  for  a  long  time  with  Europeans  become 
like  these  physically,  and  he  insists  on  the  fact 
that  even  their  encephalon  (brain)  undergoes  similar 
changes. 

This  same  idea  is  advanced  from  another  angle 
by  Prof.  J.  H.  DeLoach,  of  the  University  of  Georgia. 
He  says :  "It  is  interesting  to  learn  that  in  the  counties 
generally,  though  not  always,  where  the  majority  of 
landowners  are  Negroes  the  farm  crop  yields  per  acre 
are  greater  than  in  the  counties  where  the  majority  of 
landowners  are  white.  Where  the  Negroes  are  mostly 
tenants,  the  crop  yields  are  not  so  high  as  where  they 
own  their  own  land." 

Stanhope  Smith27  maintains  that  Negro  slave- 


24  "A  Residence  at  Sierra  Leone." 

25  "On  the  Causes  of  the  Variety  of  Complexion  and  Figure." 

26  A  group  of  the  post-bellum  United  States  Senators  and  Congress 
men  illustrate  strikingly  the  truth  of  this  assertion. 

27  "Five  Years'  Residence  in  the  West  Indies." 


344  American  Civilization  and  tlic  Negro. 

merchants  are  distinguishable  from  the  other  Negroes 
in  a  striking  way.  Whereas  those  sold  continue  to 
keep  all  their  characteristic  traits,  the  vendors  lose, 
after  the  second  and  third  generations,  their  woolly 
kind  of  hair,  and  the  characteristic  Negro  smell. 
"With  the  change  in  their  material  and  moral  situa 
tion,  Negroes  have  altered  considerably  during  the  last 
two  centuries"  (Stephen  Ward).28  There  is  no 
doubt  in  my  mind  but  that  the  color  and  features  of  the 
unmixed  Afro- American  are  changing. 

Dr.  Warren29  states  the  fact  that  the  skulls  of 
Negroes  of  past  times  found  in  New  York  have  a 
cerebral  capacity  much  less  than  those  of  modern 
Negroes. 

XL — EFFECTS  OF  CROSSING. 

A  favorite  proposition  of  the  advocates  of  in 
equality  is  that  the  crossing  of  races  produces  degen 
eration.  They  ignore  the  fact  that  all  races  are  now 
crossed. 

Many  years  ago  Quatrefages30  said:  "Well,  we 
estimate  that  already  one-seventieth  of  the  total  popu 
lation  of  the  globe  are  mixtures,  resulting  from  the 
cross  of  the  whites  with  indigenous  peoples." 

"Who  will  ever  estimate  the  quantity  of  blood  of  all 
origins  which  flows  in  the  veins  of  a  white,  yellow,  or 
black  man."  (Finot.)  An  inconsistent  negrophobe 
recently  said:  "Of  the  ten  millions  of  Negroes  in  the 
United  States  more  than  half  are  hybrids."31 

The  Ethiopians,  who  have  so  largely  influenced  the 


28  "The  Natural  History  of  Mankind." 

29  Quarterly  Review,  June,  1851. 

30  Quatrefages  died  in  1892. 

31  "America's  Greatest  Problem  :  The  Negro,"  page  64. 


Childhood  in  colored  America.     (Courtesy  of  "The  Crisis.") 


Racial  Differences.  345 


formation  of  Negro  races,  are  merely  half-breeds  of 
Negroes  and  Hamites.  Their  reaction  on  the  ethnical 
composition  of  the  whites  is  indisputable,  which  fact 
opens  out  new  horizons  for  savants  who  will  one  day 
wish  to  explore  the  many  links  of  relationship  uniting 
the  Negroes  with  European  peoples,  and,  through 
these  white  intermediaries,  with  all  humanity. 

In  the  present  state  of  science  the  place  of  honor 
assigned  to  pure  races  could  only  be  claimed  by  certain 
savage  or  primitive  peoples  whose  history  is  buried  in 
oblivion. 

Fertility  is  held  a  test  of  species. 

"Fecundation  is  abortive  when  the  fetus  is  born  before 
its  time;  agenesic32  when  fecundation  is  relative  in  the  sense 
that  the  progeny  remain  sterile  among  themselves  or  with 
individuals  of  one  or  the  other  of  the  parent  races ;  dysgenesic 
when  the  hybrids,  although  mutually  sterile,  are  fecund  when 
crossed  with  an  individual  of  one  or  the  other  of  the  parent 
races;  paragenesic  when  the  results  are  fecund  among  them 
selves,  but;  only  for  two  or  three  generations;  and  eugenesic 
when  the  progeny  are)  normally  fertile."  (Finot.) 

So  far  as  human  knowledge  and  experience  go,  all 
human  varieties  are  perfectly  fertile  in  crossing  with 
each  other, — eugenesic.  The  renewing  of  blood  nearly 
always  gives  good  results.  "Wherever  crossing  is 
done  under  normal  conditions,  inferior  types  become 
better  without  causing  any  degeneration."  (Waitz, 
Havelock  Ellis,  Doubleday,  Benoiton  de  Chateauneuf . ) 
This  accounts  for  the  present  superiority  of  Americans 
— black  and  white — compared  with  those  of  the  same 
blood  in  other  countries. 


32  The  last  part  of  these  words  comes  from  a  Greek  word  meaning 
origin,  source,  beginning,  nativity,  generation,  production,  creation ;  also 
the  act  of  begetting,  originating,  or  creating;  generation,  procreation, 
production,  formation,  creation.  The  prefixes  mean,  respectively:  a, 
without ;  par  a,  besides ;  dys,  hard,  difficult,  bad,  ill ;  eu,  well,  easily. 


346  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

The  more  we  study  the  transformation  of  man 
down  the  ages,  the  more  we  perceive  that  the  milieu 
has  changed  the  surface  of  his  biological  organization 
without  ever  succeeding  in  changing  its  essential 
character.  Man  always  remains  man.  His  thoughts, 
habits,  and  features  vary,  but  only  within  certain 
limits. 

Man  evolved  like  all  organized  beings,  but  his 
evolution  takes  an  ideal  and  mental  form  rather  than  a 
concrete  and  physiological  one.  If  he  varies,  these 
modifications  bear  in  particular  on  his  intellectual  fac 
ulties,  and  on  the  vast  domain  of  their  conquests,  that 
is  to  say,  his  social,  moral,  and  intellectual  life.  The 
gulf  which  separates  human  beings  is  particularly  deep 
on  the  intellectual  and  moral  side.  The  general  laws 
of  anatomy,  physiology,  and  environment  are  as  appli 
cable  to  man  as  to  all  other  living  beings  on  earth; 
yet  the  intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual  powers  of 
man  give  him  a  latitude  of  action  entirely  beyond  the 
animal  world.  The  laws  of  mind  are  superior  to  the 
laws  of  matter,  and  man's  psychic  life  is  superior  to 
his  physical  life.  In  considering  human  welfare  these 
higher  laws  must  be  reckoned  with.  Psychology  is 
more  important  to  man  than  physiology,  yet  physiol 
ogy  is  as  indispensable  as  psychology.  No  one  would 
maintain  that  a  man's  legs  were  as  important  as  his 
brain.  The  legs  are,  however,  just  as  indispensable  to 
a  man  as  the  brain  if  he  is  going  to  walk.  Man  is 
both  psychical  and  physical.  Any  philosophy  of  life 
ignoring  either  element  will  of  necessity  fail. 

"The  evolution  of  man  has  never  resulted  in  irre 
mediable  or  insuperable  deviations  in  the  matter  of 
brain.  In  reviewing  all  the  craniological  scales  and  in 
studying  all  the  foundations  ivhereon  is  based  the 
division  of  humanity,  nowhere  have  we  met  with  an 
organic  condemnation  of  any  race  whatever  on  the 


Racial  Differences.  347 


ground  of  its  intellectual  faculties.  Man,  however 
backward  he  may  be  found  in  the  matter  of  his  intellec 
tual  development,  never  loses  the  right  of  aspiring  to 
elevate  himself  above  his  surroundings.  Twenty  years 
of  intellectual  work  has  often  proved  sufficient  for  a 
representative  of  the  Maori,  Zulu,  Redskin,  or  Negro 
races  to  win  back  in  his  individual  self  the  centuries  of 
mental  arrest  or  mental  sleep  experienced  by  his  con 
geners.  This  property  common  to  all  human  beings 
provides  them  at  once  with  a  trait  of  ineffaceable 
equality.  One  might  speak  of  these  faculties  as  the 
common  foundations  whereon  the  circumstances  of 
physiological  and  psychical  life  construct  all  kinds  of 
buildings."  (Finot.) 

These  higher  spiritual  and  moral  interests  of  both 
races  condemn  political  and  economic  discrimination 
against  the  Negro  in  the  United  States. 

All  the  condemnations  of  peoples  and  races  in 
virtue  of  an  innate  superiority  or  inferiority  have  in 
reality  failed.  Life  has  taught  us  to  be  more  careful 
and  circumspect  in  our  judgments.  A  savant  who  pre 
sumes  to  pronounce  a  verdict  of  eternal  barbarism 
against  any  people  deserves  to  be  laughed  at.  The 
Afro-American  is  just  as  capable  of  playing  an  honor 
able  part  in  the  future  development  of  this  country  as 
the  Euro-American. 

Civilization,  indeed,  has  had  some  singular  experi 
ences  during  a  century.  Let  us  remember,  for  ex 
ample,  that  in  the  time  of  the  encyclopedists,  savants 
like  d'Alembert  and  even  Diderot  refused  to  concede  to 
the  Russians  the  possibility  of  becoming  civilized  after 
the  European  manner. 

The  American  Negro,  against  whom  has  been 
directed  all  the  forces  of  racial  inequality,  has  "stolen 
the  keys  of  destiny  and  made  the  prophets  lie."  John 
C.  Calhoun  predicted  that  "if  the  slaves  were  set  free 


348  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

they  would  become  a  race  of  beggars  unable  to  provide 
themselves  with  food,  clothes,  or  shelter."  These 
slaves  have,  nevertheless,  not  only  mastered  American 
civilization,  but  become  a  part  of  it.  Though  coming 
late  into  the  vineyard  of  civilization,  the  extra  vigor 
of  his  services  has  earned  for  the  American  black  man 
a  full  day's  pay.  From  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar  and 
Tacitus  until  Charlemagne — that  is,  eight  centuries — 
Germany  realized  less  progress  than  the  American 
Negroes  have  done  since  1860.  This  only  shows  the 
basic  unity  and  innate  equality  of  capability  of  man 
kind.  The  difference  in  pace  was  the  result  of  differ 
ence  of  opportunity  and  environment. 

The  history  of  civilization  is  only  a  continual  come 
and  go  of  peoples  and  races !  All,  without  distinction 
of  their  biological  characteristics,  are  summoned  to 
this  great  struggle  for  life,  wherein  we  fight  for  human 
progress  and  happiness.  All  the  ethnical  elements  can 
take  part  in  it ;  all  can  contend  for  places  of  honor  in  it. 
Such  is  the  general  import  of  our  biological  and 
psychological  equality,  which  remains  intact  under 
neath  all  our  superficial  divisions. 

"In  the  present  state  of  science  it  has  become  im 
possible  for  us  to  distinguish  the  ethnical  origins  of 
peoples.  The  constituent  elements  are  so  much  inter 
mingled  that  the  most  ardent  partisans  of  inequality 
must  admit  the  relationship  of  all  the  races.  The 
'purity  of  blood'  which  we  create  at  will,  and  which  we 
find  in  the  animal  world,  becomes  impossible  in  the 
human  milieu.  The  Negroes  are  related  to  the  whites, 
who  are  linked  to  the  yellows,  as  these  last  have  com 
mon  links  both  with  Negroes  and  whites.  On  the  road 
which  separates  them  we  only  meet  with  links  ivhich 
unite  them."  ( Finot. ) 


Racial  Differences.  349 


XII. — RACE  PSYCHOLOGY. 

The  last  stand  of  the  prophets  of  inequality  has 
been  in  race  psychology,  which  has  proved  a  sandy 
foundation;  for,  here  as  everywhere  else,  the  varia 
tions  within  the  different  races  are  greater  than  any 
variations  among  the  separate  races. 

In  every  walk  of  life  some  Negro  has  made  good. 
The  unmarked  credits  of  the  American  Negro  would 
fill  a  large  volume.  The  ignorance  of  prejudice  is  as 
astonishing  as  its  meanness  is  persistent.33  The  very 
ones  that  deny  Negro  capability  seek  to  bar  Negro 
progress.  I  must  withhold  the  names  of  many 
Negroes  who  hold  positions  of  honor  and  trust  to  pro 
tect  them  from  the  persecutions  of  the  people  who 
declare  the  Negroes  incapable  of  such  attainment. 
The  ignorance  that  says  "the  Negro  can't"  is  backed 
by  the  meanness  that  determines  he  sha'n't.  The 
amount  of  evidence  in  support  of  this  proposition  is 
simply  astounding,  but  to  submit  it  would  defeat  the 
ends  for  which  this  book  was  written — the  promotion 
of  justice. 

The  true  scientific  position  in  reference  to  the  per 
manent  inequality  of  races  is  correctly  stated  by  Finot. 
After  a  searching  and  impartial  analysis  of  the  evi 
dence,  he  thus  concludes;  "Some  time  will  no  doubt 
elapse  before  science,  emancipated  from  the  prejudices 
which  have  prevailed  and  multiplied  for  centuries,  will 
succeed  in  making  the  truth  triumph.  All  these 
measurements,  with  their  imposing  numbers,  as  also 
the  theoretic  observations  and  deductions,  resolve 
themselves  into  a  nebulous  doctrine  which  affirms 
many  things  and  explains  nothing. 

"The  exact  instruments  which  anthropologists  and 

33  See  Appendix  F. 


350  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

especially  craniometrists  use  offer  us  fantastical  data. 
The  results  of  their  operations  are  deposited  in  thous 
ands  of  volumes;  and  yet  what  is  their  real  bearing? 
In  examining  them  closely  one  can  hardly  attribute  to 
them  even  a  descriptive  value,  so  much  do  they  con 
tradict  and  destroy  each  other. 

"We  have  seen,  for  example,  how  precarious  are 
the  affirmations  of  craniometry,  which  constitutes, 
however,  the  most  developed  section  of  anthropometry. 
Although  the  instruments  which  it  places  at  the  dis 
posal  of  savants  are  very  numerous,  yet  the  ways  of 
using  them  are  still  more  varied.  The  lack  of  unity 
in  the  observations  and  the  contradictory  ends  which 
those  who  use  them  seem  to  pursue,  cause  numerous 
misunderstandings,  which  end  in  chaotic  affirmations. 
In  bringing  forward  the  most  indisputable  data  and  in 
proceeding  to  a  kind  of  cross-examination,  we  arrive 
at  a  conclusion  quite  different  from  that  which  the 
adherents  of  the  dogmas  of  races  are  anxious  to  im 
pose  upon  us,  and  which  so  many  learned  demographs, 
politicians,  novelists,  and  statesmen  blindly  accept. 

"When  we  go  through  the  list  of  external  differ 
ences  which  appear  to  divide  man,  ive  find  literally 
nothing  which  can  authorise  their  division  into 
superior  and  inferior  beings,  into  masters  and  pariahs. 
If  this  division  exists  in  our  thought,  it  only  came 
there  as  the  result  of  inexact  observations  and  false 
opinions  drawn  from  them. 

"The  science  of  inequality  is  emphatically  a  science 
of  ivhite  people.  It  is  they  who  have  invented  it  and 
set  it  agoing,  who  have  maintained,  cherished,  and 
propagated  it,  thanks  to  their  observations  and  their 
deductions.  Deeming  themselves  greater  than  men  of 
other  colors,  they  have  elevated  into  superior  qualities 
all  the  traits  which  are  peculiar  to  themselves,  com 
mencing  with  the  whiteness  of  the  skin  and  the  pliancy 


Racial  Differences.  351 


of  the  hair.     But  nothing  proves  that  these  vaunted 
traits  are  traits  of  real  superiority." 

Quatrefages  expresses  a  similar  opinion:  "If  the 
Chinese  and  the  Egyptians  had  judged  our  ancestors 
as  we  too  often  judge  foreign  races,  they  would  have 
found  in  them  many  traits  of  inferiority  such  as  this 
white  skin  in  which  we  take  so  much  pride,  and 
which  they  would  have  regarded  as  showing  an  irre 
mediable  etiolation."34 

Science  builds  no  impassible  walls  between  men 
with  wide  and  narrow  skulls,  yellows  and  whites,  tall 
and  short  men,  those  with  thick  and  thin  joints,  those 
with  small  and  large  nostrils,  those  with  straight  and 
curved  foreheads.  But  life  passes  above  all  these  arti 
ficial  partitions,  and  marches  on  their  ruins  toward 
unity. 

"In  Nature's  infinite  book  of  secrecy 

A  little  I  can  read"       .      .      . 

"The  waters  pass — 

Currents  will  have  their  way; 

Nature  is  nobody's  ally;  'tis  well." 

NOTE. — To  those  who  may  wish  further  evidence  on  this  interesting 
subject  I  commend  "Race  Prejudice,"  by  Jean  Finot,  whose  elegant 
language  and  accurate  data  I  have  so  frequently  quoted. 


34  An  unhealthy  whitening  of  the  skin. 


"From  a  general  survey  of  the  various  schemes,  it  appears 
that  special,  if  not  paramount,  importance  is  given  by  these 
systematists  to  the  three  elements  of  complexion,  character  of 
the  hair,  and  shape  of  the  skull.  And,  in  general,  physical 
features  are  relied  on,  not  merely  in  preference  to,  but  to  the 
total  exclusion  of,  mental  qualities.  Yet  in  determining  the 
relative  position  of  ethnic  groups  these  cannot  be  over 
looked."—  KEANE,  171. 

"Negro  blood,  instead  of  standing  at  the  bottom  of  the 
list,  is  entitled,  if  judged  either  by  its  great  men  or  its  masses, 
either  by  its  courage,  its  purpose,  or  its  endurance,  to  a  place 
as  near  ours  as  any  other  blood  known  in  history." — PHILLIPS. 


(352) 


A  social  club  of  self-supporting  young  women  (teachers,  stenog 
raphers,  bookkeepers)  who  have  made  good.  This  picture  is  eight 
years  old.  One  of  the  group  is  dead,  eleven  are  married  and  four  are 
successful  "bachelor  maids."  While  the  club  is  still  intact,  the  original 
membership  here  presented  is  scattered  from  New  England  to  Panama 
and  from  Georgia  to  Colorado. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  AMERICAN  ENVIRONMENT. 

"THE  European  and  Negro  races  have  the  aptitude 
of  acclimatization  in  all  countries."  (Deniker.) 

The  scientific  data  submitted  in  the  preceding  chap 
ter  and  other  parts  of  this  work  establish  by  incontro 
vertible  evidence  the  Negro's  innate  capability  to  meet 
the  conditions  of  a  favorable  environment.  America 
is  such  an  environment.  It  is  proper,  then,  to  submit 
some  further  evidence  that  the  Negro  is  manifesting 
his  capabilities  by  responding  to  this  environment. 


I. — PERSONAL  APPEARANCE. 

From  nothing  has  the  American  Negro  suffered 
more  than  from  misrepresentation;1  and  no  phase  of 
misrepresentation  has  been  more  persistently  malicious 
and  willfully  erroneous  than  that  of  the  Negro's  looks. 
The  exceptional,  the  abnormal,  the  ugly,  are  con 
tinually  exploited;  while  the  average,  the  normal, 
and  the  beautiful  are  as  continually  suppressed  or 
distorted. 

The  superficial  or  untrained  mind  dwells  on  re 
semblances  rather  than  differences.  After  a  certain 
distorted  caricature  of  the  accepted  European  standard 
of  human  features  has  been  impressed  upon  the  public 

1  "There  are  tens  of  thousands  of  intelligent  people  who  today 
unwittingly  exaggerate  the  demands  made  by  and  in  behalf  of  the 
Negro  into  a  vast  and  shapeless  terror.  Neither  he,  his  advocates, 
nor  his  opponents  have  generally  realized  how  widely  his  claims  have 
been,  sometimes  by  and  sometimes  without  intention,  misconstrued.  He 
needs  still  to  make  innumerable  reiterations  of  facts  that  seem  to  him 
too  plain  foil  repetition."  (G.  W.  Cable,  "The  Negro  Question,"  page 
78.)  The  importance  of  these  words  of  Mr.  Cable  justifies  their  repeti 
tion  here.  (See  page  302.) 

23  (353) 


354  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

mind  as  the  "typical  Negro,"  it  is  easy  to  identify  with 
such  caricature  every  person  called  Negro. 

How  the  public  mind  may  be  wrongly  impressed  by 
this  misrepresentation  is  well  illustrated  by  an  incident 
in  a  Western  State.  A  religious  convention  was  to  be 
held.  After  all  preparation  had  been  made  for  accom 
modating  the  visitors,  it  developed  that  one  of  the  del 
egations  contained  a  Negro.  Consternation  pervaded 
the  ranks  of  the  committee  on  homes.  There  was 
much  discussion  until  the  tension  was  relieved  by  a 
liberal-minded  citizen  accepting  the  responsibility  of 
housing  the  brother  in  black. 

Assuming  so  grave  a  duty  was,  of  course,  a  matter 
for  local  distinction.  For  days  talk  about  the  coming 
event  occupied  the  attention  of  the  household.  In  fact, 
the  event  set  the  town  agog.  When  the  day  came  5- 
year-old  Willie  objected  very  seriously  to  going  to  bed 
before  the  early  evening  train  arrived  with  the  guest. 
Being  assured,  however,  that  he  could  see  the  stranger 
in  the  morning  he  finally  retired.  Arising  early  the 
next  morning,  Willie,  unbeknown  to  the  other  mem 
bers  of  the  household,  approached  the  guest-chamber. 
Stealthily  opening  the  door,  he  cautiously  peeped  in, 
when  to  his  utter  astonishment  a  cheery  "Good  morn- 
ing"  came  from  the  guest,  who  was  already  up  and 
dressed.  Thus  reassured,  the  child  boldly  opened  the 
door  and,  after  a  careful  survey  of  the  visitor,  pre 
cipitately  retreated.  Reaching  his  mother's  room,  he 
said,  disappointedly,  "Why  mamma,  that  is  a  man  in 
the  guest-chamber!"  That  child  announced  a  truth 
that  the  American  people  as  a  whole  have  yet  to  learn. 
The  Negro  is  a  man;  no  more,  no  less. 

To  the  child's  mind  there  was  no  more  trouble  in 
the  situation  after  that  discovery.  If  he  was  a  man 
like  the  rest,  why  not  treat  him  the  same  way?  This 
logic  is  unanswerable. 


The  American  Environment.  355 

Does  the  American  Negro  look  like  a  man  accord 
ing  to  the  accepted  standards  ?  What  does  the  Ameri 
can  Negro  look  like?  Let  us  waive  all  questions  of 
ancestry,  heredity,  and  previous  condition,  and  answer 
this  question  from  present  data.  What  does  the 
American  Negro  look  like? 

Three  conditions  or  phases  of  the  race  question 
make  this  point  important : — 

1.  The    determining    influence    in    the    nation's 
final  decision  on  the  race  question  must  come  from 
people  not  in  position  to  obtain  the  facts  directly. 

2.  Anti-Negro  agitators  are  noisy  and  persistent. 
The  avatars  of  hate  are  more  active  than  the  apostles 
of  love.     Self-interest  is  more  industrious  than  altru 
ism,  and  a  lie  is  swifter  of  movement  than  the  truth. 

,  3.  The  first  colored  people  to  get  into  purely  white 
sections  are  apt  to  be  unfavorable  representatives  of 
the  race:  contract-laborers  (strike-breakers),  domes 
tic  servants,  fugitives  from  justice  (or  oftener  from 
injustice),  or  wanderers,  vagabonds,  or  tramps. 
These  may  be  "typical,"  but  they  are  not  characteristic, 
and  it  is  unfortunate  for  the  race  if  an  intelligent 
neutral  mind  receives  its  first  impression  of  colored 
Americans  from  these  classes. 

Flower  and  Lydekker  ("Mammals  Living  and 
Extinct,"  p.  744)  wisely  observe :  "A  large  proportion 
of  mankind  is  made  up,  not  of  extreme  or  typical,  but 
more  or  less  of  generalized  or  intermediate  forms." 
Keane  ("Ethnology,"  p.  12)  quotes  this  approvingly 
and  admits  "there  is  no  perfect  embodiment  of  the 
Caucasic  or  of  the  Mongolic  type."  Implying,  of 
course,  that  there  is  such  a  "perfect  embodiment"  of 
the  Negro  type. 

Hasty  generalization  is  the  fruitful  source  of 
prejudice  and  injustice.  The  average  colored  Ameri- 


356  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

can  does  not  look  like  the  textbook  pictures  of  the 
"typical  Negro" 

Well  do  I  remember  my  first  geography  with  its 
vivid  pictures  of  the  "Five  Races  of  Mankind." 
Caucasian  (white),  Mongolian  (yellow),  American 
(red),  Malay  (brown),  Ethiopian  (black).  Europe 
was  the  home  of  the  white  race ;  Asia  was  the  home  of 
the  yellow  race ;  Africa  was  the  home  of  the  black  race ; 
America  was  the  home  of  the  red  race ;  while  the  brown 
race  inhabited  the  extreme  southern  part  of  Asia  and 
the  main  islands  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

There  was  a  definiteness  about  this  knowledge  that 
left  no  doubts  in  our  young  minds.  The  pictures  did 
not,  however,  exactly  harmonize  with  our  personal 
experience.  The  Caucasian  was  illustrated  by  a  very 
good  picture  of  a  conventional  family  group  (father, 
mother,  and  child)  of  white  people  dressed  in  the  pre 
vailing  style.  Such  a  sight  could  be  duplicated  at  any 
time  and  was  perfectly  familiar  to  us.  The  Mongolian 
was  a  conventional  Chinaman  that  looked  like  the 
laundryman  "dressed  in  his  best  Sunday  clothes." 
This  gave  no  trouble.  The  American  was  drawn  as 
we  had  seen  the  Indians  many  times, — buckskin  tights 
and  moccasins,  face  paint,  head  feathers,  bow  and 
arrows,  etc.  The  Malayan  (brown),  though  some 
what  scanty  of  clothing,  duplicated  with  more  or  less 
faithfulness  "a  wild  man  from  Borneo"  seen  at  a  cir 
cus.  But  the  Ethiopian  (black),  "also  called  Negro," 
was  a  poser.  None  of  us  had  ever  seen  anybody  like 
him.  Entirely  nude  except  for  a  loin-girdle  of  grasses, 
his  gaunt  figure  supported  by  calfless  legs,  presented  a 
weird  appearance.  Heels  projecting  backward  and 
toes  spread  out,  his  feet  seemed  disproportionately 
large.  His  lengthy  but  slender  arms  terminated  in 
claw-like  fingers,  the  right  group  of  which  clutched  a 
long  spear,  while  the  left  one  held  a  shield.  His  ample 


The  American  Environment.  357 

flat  nose  had  a  large  ring  through  its  exposed  septum 
and  his  large  and  rolling  lips  showed  plainly  their 
mucous  lining. 

As  the  members  of  this  class  with  few  exceptions 
had  never  seen  a  Negro,  this  picture  was  accepted  as 
true.  Two  questions  we  could  not  solve;  and,  after 
several  days'  discussion  on  playground,  at  home,  and 
by  the  wayside,  the  teacher  was  appealed  to. 

First,  Did  not  the  yellow  man  and  the  brown  man 
and  the  black  man  have  a  wife  and  baby  like  the  white 
man  (we  knew  about  Indians)  ?  When  the  teacher 
answered  yes,  we  wanted  to  know  why  they  did  not  put 
them  all  in  the  picture?  She  answered  frankly  that 
she  did  not  know. 

We  hesitated  about  the  second  question  and  would 
have  retired  without  asking  it  had  not  the  good- 
natured  teacher  tactfully  removed  our  embarrassment, 
an  act  she  would  not  have  performed  had  she  had  any 
idea  of  the  question.  A  bright  little  Irish  boy  was 
spokesman,  "What  is  Charley  Roman  ?"  "Charley  is  a 
mixed  blood,"  said  the  teacher,  with  some  embarrass 
ment.  "What  is  a  mixed  blood  ?"  countered  Joe.  "That 
is  a  question  for  you  to  answer  when  you  are  grown  up 
men,"  said  the  teacher,  as  she  cautiously  dismissed  us 
to  the  playground. 

We  retired  more  puzzled  than  we  entered.  Why 
didn't  they  put  all  the  mammas  and  babies  in  the  pic 
ture  ?  What  is  a  mixed  blood  ? 

Though  these  questions  antedate  by  several  years 
the  "why"  puzzle  described  in  the  opening  chapter  of 
this  book,  I  confess  that  I  have  not  yet  found  a  satis 
factory  answer  to  them.  For  many  years  I  have 
understood  man's  domination  of  the  animal  world ;  but 
his  persistent  misrepresentation  and  persecution  of  his 
brother  man  is  still  a  puzzle  to  me. 

I  have  never  seen  any  of  those  boys  since  the  close 


358  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

of  that  school  year.  Doubtless  many  of  them  still 
reside  in  that  quiet  and  beautiful,  but  sequestered  dis 
trict,  and  still  retain  that  geographical  picture  as  the 
typical  Negro. 

What  does  the  American  Negro  look  like  ? 

Keane  truly  says:  "Type  stands  apart  from  all 
other  terms  in  ethnological  nomenclature.  It  is  not  a 
race,  a  tribe,  or  a  family,  or  any  concrete  division 
whatsoever ;  but  is  rather  in  the  nature  of  an  abstrac 
tion,  a  model  or  pattern  to  which  all  possible  divisions 
are  referable.  Originally  meaning  a  mould  or  mat 
rix,  or  rather  a  casting  from  a  mould,  it  is  taken  as  a 
summary  of  all  the  characters  assumed  to  be  proper  to 
a  given  class  or  group.  Thus  type  becomes  the  stand 
ard  by  which  we  measure  the  relative  position  of 
individuals  in  a  group." 

One  of  the  meanest  phases  of  the  race  question  in 
this  country  is  the  urgent  effort  to  make  the  colored 
American  fit  this  caricature  of  a  "typical  Negro." 
Even  Mr.  Keane,  high  priest  of  racial  inequality 
though  he  be,  when  discussing  a  general  proposition 
where  the  Negro  is  not  specifically  involved  admits : — 

"In  practice  no  individual  exists,  or  ever  did  exist, 
who  is  entirely  conformable  to  any  given  standard. 
Hence  type  necessarily  resolves  itself  into  a  question  of 
averages;  individuals  possessing  most  of  the  charac 
ters  peculiar  to  a  group  arc  said  to  be  typical  members 
of  that  group,  and  even  this  only  in  a  relative  sense. 
They  approximate  nearer  than  other  members  to  the 
ideal,  but  none  absolutely  reach  it." 

Thus  while  there  are  orthognathic  individuals, 
there  are  no  orthognathic  races.  It  is  the  purest  ego 
tism  to  claim  the  average  Caucasian  in  this  country  is 
orthognathic;  and  while  there  are  extremely  prog- 
nathic  Negroes,  it  is  mere  prejudice  to  claim  that  the 
average  colored  American  is  extremely  prognathic. 


The  American  Environment.  359 

A  recent  anti-Negro  writer,  speaking  of  the 
colored  man,  says,  boastingly:  "The  jaws  exhibit 
decided  prognathism  or  projecting  forward,  the  facial 
angle  being  seventy  degrees  against  the  eighty-two  of 
the  average  white  man/'2 

When  we  remember  that  ninety  degrees  is  the 
standard  of  orthognathism  we  can  see  how  fatuous  is 
this  boast ;  eight  degrees  behind  his  own  standard  and 
bragging  about  being  twelve  degrees  ahead  of  the 
black  man !  Even  this  is  not  true ;  for  as  Deniker  says3 
prognathism  "presents  too  many  individual  varieties 
to  be  taken  as  a  distinctive  character  of  race." 

Many  full-blood  Negroes  are  orthognathic. 

The  widespread  belief  that  colored  Americans  are 
black  and  (as  some  people  reason,  therefore)  ugly, 
arises  from  the  wellnigh  universal  tendency  to  dislike, 
disparage,  or  repudiate  that  which  is  strange  or  differ 
ent  ;  and  the  other  almost  equally  universal  tendency  to 
accept  without  question  or  investigation  the  judg 
ments  and  opinions,  assertions,  and  prejudices  of 
others.  This  charge  of  ugliness  contains  two  funda 
mental  errors,  viz.,  that  colored  Americans  are  black 
and  that  black  is  necessarily  ugly.  The  average 
colored  American  is  not  black  and  black  does  not 
necessarily  imply  ugliness.  The  prettiest  dog  I  ever 
saw  was  black  and  the  most  beautiful  horse  I  ever 
owned  was  coal  black ;  and,  finally,  the  most  accurately 
proportioned  human  form  I  ever  examined  was  a  17- 
year-old  black  girl.  The  symmetry  of  her  body  was 
perfect.  She  met  every  item  of  the  Caucasian  canon  of 
beauty  except  color  and  hair.  Both  of  these  were  very 
beautiful,  but  not  according  to  European  canons. 

The  truth  of  the  whole  matter  is  this:  humanity 
conceded,  personal  appearance  depends  upon  physical 

2  Shufeldt,  "America's  Greatest  Problem:  The  Negro,"  page  28. 

3  Deniker,  "Races  of  Man,"  page  65. 


360  American  ttvifatatioH  ami  the  Negro. 

environment,  intellectual  habit,  moral  customs,  and 
such  other  human  associations  as  are  involved  in 
politics,  economics,  etc.  When  these  conditions  are 
similar  or  identical,  and  so  continue,  human  beings, 
however  diverse  their  antecedents  and  heredity,  will 
grow  to  look  alike  in  personal  appearance.  The 
colored  man  is  reacting  to  the  American  environment 
and  in  personal  appearance  is  becoming  a  normal 
dweller  in  a  temperate  climate. 

Of  the  mixed  bloods,  Finot  says:  "Their  resem 
blance  to  the  whites  in  the  United  States  baffles  every 
artifice  resorted  to  in  order  to  recognize  them." 

Of  the  full-bloods  Sir  Harry  Johnston4  says: 
"The  best  types  of  Negro  in  bodily  structure  are 
almost  as  beautiful  as  the  best  types  of  European  with 
(at  present)  the  striking  exception  of  the  face. 
Morally,  the  Negro  is  nearly  on  an  equality  with  the 
white  race,  and  perhaps  slightly  superior  to  the 
yellow."  (See  also  Chapter  VIII.) 

This  brings  us  to  the  first  clear  truth  in  opposition 
to  assertion  and  prejudice,  that  greets  the  honest  in 
vestigator  in  this  field.  The  colored  people  in  America 
do  not  all  look  alike.  Individual  variation  is  great5 — 
greater  than  in  white  people.  This  is  true  as  to  both 
facial  form  and  bodily  stature;  and  as  to  color,  the 
words  of  the  witty  minstrel  are  strikingly  descriptive : 
"We  runs  from  ebo  to  city  cream." 

Dr.  Robt.  Bennett  Bean,  a  devoted  worshipper  at 
the  shrine  of  racial  inequality,  admits  "the  American 
Negro  may  be  divided  into  two  groups,  each  with 
subdivisions."6 

"The  first  group  includes  the  Guinea  Coast  Negro 


4  Sir  Harry  Johnston,  "Negro  in  the  New  World." 

5  See  Chapter  III. 

6  "Racial  Peculiarities  of  Negro  Brain,"  American  Jour.  Anat.,  vol. 
iv,  No.  4. 


The  American  Environment.  361 

and  maybe  the  few  Hottentots  in  America,  and  is 
divided  into  three  classes.  First  the  Hottentot,  or 
Bosjesman,  having  gray  or  old  yellow  skin  resembling 
dirty  varnished  oak ;  low,  dwarfed  stature,  either  weak 
or  squat  and  muscular;  long,  woolly  hair,  in  small 
obliquely  inserted  tufts;  very  dark  eyes,  wide  apart; 
extraordinarily  broad,  flat  nose;  large  mouth,  with 
thick,  projecting,  turned-out  lips;  enormous  prog- 
nathism ;  heads  extremely  dolichocephalic;  the  smallest 
brains  (weighing  900-1000  grams)  of  any  human 
beings  probably;  and  lastly,  having  the  distinctive 
steatopyga  and  the  tablier  which  are  not  always  pres 
ent.  Secondly,  the  low-class  Guinea  Coast  Negro, 
most  ancient  and  most  classical  Negro  type,  having  a 
cool,  velvety  skin,  glassy,  and  varying  from  reddish, 
yellowish,  or  bluish  black  to  jet  black;  low  stature,  well 
knit  and  muscular;  black  hair  and  eyes;  platyrrhine 
nose;  thick  lips;  prognathous  face;  beautifully  white, 
sound  teeth;  small,  square  ears  (Hrdlicka) ;  long  upper 
and  short  lower  extremities;  flat  feet;  heads  dolicho 
cephalic,  or  even  approaching  sub-brachycephaly ;  and 
brains  weighing  from  1000  to  1200  grams,  possibly 
more.  Thirdly,  the  high-class  Guinea  Negro,  similar 
to  the  low  class,  but  developed  along  broader  lines,  and 
instead  of  being  ugly,  diminutive,  with  large  or  squat 
limbs,  and  a  round  or  short  face,  they  are  compara 
tively  handsome,  taller,  with  well-proportioned  limbs 
and  a  long  face. 

11  The  second  group  is  made  up  of  Kaffirs  and  other 
Mulattoes,  and  Mulattoids,  or  Mulatto-like  individuals. 
The  Kaffirs  are  represented  by  the  Zulus  in  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina,  being  particularly  noted  for  their 
height  and  intelligence.  They  have  various  shades  of 
dark-brown  skin;  very  high  stature,  slim  and  well 
made ;  thick,  woolly  hair,  and  dark-brown  eyes ;  broad, 
flat  nose,  sometimes  highly  arched,  Romanesque,  or 


362  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

Arablike;  thick  lips;  long,  oval  face;  slight  prog- 
nathism  and  platyrrhiny;  long,  high  heads,  with  nar 
row  foreheads,  and  median  frontal  protuberances ;  and 
large  brains,  weighing  from  1300  to  1500  grams. 

"The  mulattoes  are  such  a  heterogeneous  con 
glomeration  as  to  beggar  description. 

"There  are  all  sorts  of  mixtures  of  all  the  classes 
mentioned  above,  forming  a  not  inconsiderable  part  of 
the  Negro  population.  There  may  be  a  few  other  types 
of  Negroes  here  and  there,  such  as  the  Ethiopians, 
Papuans,  Nigritos,  and  perhaps  Australians,  and  occa 
sionally  one  sees  a  red  Negro,  probably  a  Foulah  from 
the  heart  of  Africa  in  the  region  of  the  Soudan,  or  a 
Dahomian  from  near  there,  but  these  are  so  rare  as  to 
be  inconsiderable.  A  few  mixed  bloods  writh  Indian 
characteristics  are  occasionally  observed." 

Truly  a  variagated  multitude.  I  have  quoted  at 
length  Dr.  Bean's  unfair  description  for  the  sake  of 
emphasizing  the  extent  of  individual  variation  in 
American  Negroes.  With  this  amount  of  variation 
every  dictate  of  justice  and  common  sense  demands 
individual  treatment. 

"Outside  the  question  of  what  the  pure  Negro  type 
is,  the  Negro  American  represents  a  very  wide  and 
thorough  blending  of  nearly  all  African  people  from 
north  to  south;  and  more  than  that,  it  is,  to  a  far 
larger  extent  than  many  realize,  a  blending  of 
European  and  African  blood."  This  is  a  perfectly 
natural  condition  when  we  remember  that  "The 
slaves  thus  procured  came  from  all  parts  of  Africa— 
the  Soudan,  Central  and  South  Africa.  Distinct 
traces  of  Arab  and  even  Malay  blood  could  be  seen 
side-by-side  with  the  tall  Bantu,  the  yellow  Hotten 
tot,  and  the  African  dwarfs." 

The  scholarly  Burkhardt  DuBois  has  differentiated 
the  following  American  Negro  types : — 


The  American  Environment.  363 

A.  Negro  types. 

B.  Mulatto  types. 

C.  Quadroon  types. 

D.  White  types  with  Negro  blood. 

He  has  subdivided  these  types  as  follows : — 

A.  i.  Full-blooded  Negroes. 

2.  Brown  Negroes,  full-blooded  or  with  less 
than  one-fourth  of  white  blood. 

B.  i.  Blended  types. 

2.  Negro-colored. 

3.  Negro-haired. 

4.  Negro-featured. 

C.  i.  The  chromatic  series. 
2.  Blended  types. 

D.  Latin. 
Celtic. 
English. 
German,  etc. 

These  types  are  described  in  detail  and  illustrated 
by  photographs.7 

Of  type  A,  Negro  types,  he  says :  "These  present 
perhaps  sixty-six  and  two-thirds  per  cent,  of  the 
colored  people  of  this  country.  A  really  adequate 
study  would  lead  to  an  investigation  of  all  the  African 
types,  most  of  which  are  represented  in  America,  and 
subsequently  changed  by  intermingling,  and  possibly 
by  climate  and  surroundings.  We  can  still  catch 
glimpses  of  the  original  African — the  straight-nosed, 
dark  Nubian;  the  tall,  massive  Bantu;  the  small,  sturdy 
West  Coast  Negro,  and  others.  All  these  types  agree 
in  dark  color  and  crisp  hair.  The  color  we  usually 


7  Atlanta  University  Reports. 


364  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

denominate  black,  although  it  is  in  reality  a  series  of 
browns,  varying  between  black  and  yellow  as  limits." 

Of  type  B,  Mulatto  types,  he  says :  'The  mulatto 
types  of  American  Negroes  have  from  three-fourths 
to  one-half  Negro  blood  and  form  in  this  country,  to 
hazard  a  guess,  about  twenty-seven  and  seven-ninths 
per  cent,  of  the  colored  population.  In  some,  white 
and  Negro  blood  is  evenly  distributed  in  color,  hair, 
and  features,  making  light-brown  or  yellow  persons, 
with  hair  in  small  but  minute  curls  or  waves,  features 
rounded  or  half  European.  In  others  the  Negro  blood 
has  asserted  itself  in  one  or  two  characteristics  and 
the  white  blood  in  other  directions.  For  instance,  the 
white  blood  has  gone  into  the  abundant  long  black  hair 
and  left  the  dark  face  and  full  features ;  in  others  the 
Negro  blood  has  asserted  itself  particularly  in  the  hair, 
leaving  the  light  color  and  European  features.  In 
some  others  the  hair  has  received  the  slight  red  tinge 
and  the  blending  is  more  complete.  In  still  others  the 
Negro  blood  has  moulded  the  features,  leaving  the 
light  color  and  hair  in  ringlets.  All  this  is  instructive 
to  the  student  of  heredity  as  showing  visibly  many 
things  which  lie  hidden  from  the  eye  in  the  blending 
of  races  of  the  same  color  and  features." 

Of  type  C,  Quadroon  types,  he  says:  "They  are 
colored  people  with  more  than  one-half  and  less  than 
seven-eighths  of  their  blood  white,  so  far  as  I  can  as 
certain.  They  represent  about  three  and  eight-ninths 
per  cent,  of  the  American  Negroes,  if  my  other  esti 
mates  are  correct.  Here  again  are  examples  of  race- 
blending  in  large  variety  and  with  especial  brilliancy 
of  coloring.  Sometimes  the  coloring  is  so  prominent 
and  assertive  that  one  scarcely  notices  other  features. 
Photographs,  of  course,  fail  to  give  any  adequate  idea 
of  this  group ;  the  emphatic  color  may  be  velvet-brown 
in  the  face,  or  a  brownish  red  in  the  hair.  Again,  the 


The  American  Environment.  365 

hair  and  features  may  both  be  yellow,  or  all  brown  or 
dark  brown  and  yellow,  or  finally  the  skin  may  be 
strikingly  white.  These  types  I  have  grouped  as  the 
chromatic  types. 

"Again  we  may  have  the  harmonious  blending 
mentioned  in  the  case  of  the  mulattoes.  The  hair  of 
the  quadroons  is  of  almost  every  conceivable  variety 
and  color;  it  may  be  black  and  straight,  or  black  and 
wavy,  or  red-brown  and  waving,  or  crimped  and 
brownish-red,  or  curly  and  fluffy,  and  so  on  in  endless 
change." 

Of  type  D,  he  says :  "The  octoroons  and  those  with 
less  thanj  one-eighth  of  Negro  blood  pass  so  easily 
back  and"  forth  between  the  races  that  it  is  difficult  to 
estimate  their  real  number.  In  a  single  small  city  100 
colored  families  were  estimated  to  have  been  listed  as 
white  in  the  census  of  1890,  because  the  octoroon  wife 
went  to  the  door  and  the  census  taker  did  not  dare  to 
ask  her  'color/  A  considerable  proportion  of  these 
persons  identify  themselves  altogether  with  the  whites 
—probably  several  thousands  in  all.  These  form 
about  one  and  two-thirds  per  cent,  of  the  colored  pop 
ulation.  They  are  easily  classified  according  to  the 
European  types  they  most  resemble,  either  accidentally 
or  because  of  real  blood-relationship." 

I  ask  the  fair-minded  reader  to  consider  carefully 
the  facts  here  submitted,  to  examine  thoroughly  the 
illustrations  of  this  book,  and  finally  to  study  without 
prejudice  the  form  and  features  of  the  colored  people 
he  meets.  I  am  sure  he  will  find  the  evidence  sufficient 
to  support  the  contention  that  the  individual  variation 
in  the  American  Negro  is  so  great  that  any  other  treat 
ment  than  that  based  on  individual  merit  is  a  mon 
strous  injustice. 

The  American  colored  man  is  not  only  reacting 
successfully  to  his  North  temperate  environment  in 


366  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

physical  appearance,  but  in  physical  stamina  also. 
He  has  developed  no  diseases  peculiar  to  himself8  and 
has,  under  normal  conditions,  a  normal  resistance. 
The  assumption  that  he  has  racially  deteriorated 
physically  since  emancipation  is  unwarranted.  The 
Negro's  physical  vigor  of  ante-bellum  days  was  the 
gift  of  nature — the  common  heritage  of  her  savage 
children.  His  survival  is  due  to  the  merciless  and 
murderous  selection  of  the  slave-trade  across  the 
Atlantic.  Only  the  toughest  physically  could  with 
stand  the  rigors  of  the  slave-ship  and  the  brutality  of 
the  slave-trader.  The  absence  of  sickness  was  due  to 
the  well-known  fact  that  the  weak  did  not  survive  to 
become  sick.  Miscarriages  precluded  invalidism,  and 
the  graveyard  excluded  the  hospital. 

"If  the  population  were  divided  as  to  social  and 
economic  condition  the  matter  of  race  would  be  almost 
entirely  eliminated.9  Poverty's  death  rate  in  Russia 
shows  a  much  greater  divergence  from  the  rate  among 
the  well-to-do  than  the  difference  between  Negroes  and 
whites  in  America.  In  England,  according  to  Mulhall, 
the  poor  have  a  rate  twice  as  high  as  the  rich,  and  the 
well-to-do  are  between  the  two.  The  same  is  true  in 
Sweden,  Germany,  and  other  countries.  In  Chicago 
the  death  rate  among  the  whites,  of  the  stockyard 
district  is  higher  than  the  Negroes  of  that  city,  and 
farther  away  from  the  death  rate  of  the  Hyde  Park 
district  of  that  city  than  the  Negroes  are  from  the 
whites  of  Philadelphia." 

Conduct  and  condition,  not  race,  are  the  deter 
mining  factors  in  disease  and  death.  Nature  is  im 
partial  as  well  as  inexorable. 

"Over  one  hundred  years  ago  Villenet  made  the 
statement  before  the  Academy  of  Sciences  in  Paris, 


8  See  page  45. 

9  See  "Housing  and  Sanitation,"  Southern  Workman,  Sept.,  1906. 


The  American  Environment.  367 

that  while  among  well-nourished  rich  people  there 
occurred  one  death  in  fifty,  among  the  very  poor 
classes  the  deaths  were  one  in  four." 

II. — AN  UNSUSPECTED  FACTOR. 

One  of  the  most  striking  discoveries  in  the  study  of 
the  race  question  is  a  truth  the  existence  of  which  will 
not  be  admitted  by  the  average  individual  of  either 
race,  namely,  in  many  ways  the  races  are  very  much 
alike,  especially  in  those  things  wherein  they  most 
accuse  each  other.  In  nothing  is  this  resemblance 
more  shown  than  in  the  mutual  vehemence  with  which 
they  each  deny  its  existence.  It  would  astonish  some 
of  the  most  rampant  negrophobes  to  know  with  what 
utter  contempt  they  are  looked  down  upon  as  inferior 
beings  by  many  of  the  ordinary  colored  people.  A 
contempt  that  is  often  tinged  with  bitterness  from  the 
very  prevalent  belief  that  some  of  these  agitators  are 
not  pure  Caucasians  in  either  blood  or  association. 

It  is  surprising  how  prejudice  and  preconceived 
notions  can  blind  intelligent  people  to  obvious  facts. 
There  is  no  more  elemental  truism  of  ethnology  than 
that  people  living  in  the  same  country,  speaking  the 
same  language,  professing  the  same  religion,  and  read 
ing  the  same  literature  will  in  a  general  way  think  the 
same  thoughts  and  have  the  same  ambitions. 

Much  needless  friction  arises  in  the  South  by 
ignoring  this  simple  truth.  In  this  particular  the 
white  man  is  the  greater  sinner.  The  colored  man 
reads  the  white  man's  books  and  papers,  but  the  aver 
age  white  person,  male  and  female,  North  and  South, 
by  a  sort  of  conspiracy  of  prejudice,  will  not  read  the 
colored  man's  books  and  papers.10  As  a  result  the 

10  An  amusing  incident  illustrative  of  this  foolish  prejudice  came 
under  the  author's  notice  some  years  ago.  A  colored  man  of  some 
literary  taste  had  a  social  function  at  his  home.  A  feature  of  the 


368  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

colored  man  knows  a  good  deal  more  about  what  the 
white  man  is  thinking  and  saying  than  the  white  man 
does  about  what  the  colored  man  is  thinking  or  saying. 
This  is  a  source  of  dangerous  irritation  because  it 
leads  colored  people  to  regard  many  assertions  as  will 
ful  misrepresentations  or  downright  falsehoods  when 
in  reality  they  are  only  honest  ignorance  on  the  part 
of  the  white  man.  No  human  folly  can  surpass  the 
conceit  of  ignorance. 

The  white  man  that  never  visits  a  colored  lodge, 
nor  school,  nor  church,  nor  home;  never  talks  to  in 
telligent  colored  people  except  to  hector  them;  nor 
exercises  the  amenities  of  culture  in  the  most  casual 
business  relations  with  colored  people;11  never  reads 
the  books  nor  papers  written  by  them,  yet  says  that  he 
knows  colored  people  and  persistently  makes  state- 
service  was  a  beautiful  Japanese  napkin  embossed  with  the  following 
quotation  from  Dunbar: — 

"An  angel,  robed  in  spotless  white, 

Bent  down  and  kissed  the  sleeping  Night. 

Night  woke  to  blush ;  the  sprite  was  gone. 

Men  saw  the  blush  and  called  it  Dawn." 

The  printer  that  did  this  work  liked  the  lines  and  put  a  copy  in  his 
scrapbook.  A  friend  saw  them,  told  his  wife  about  them.  Wife  liked 
them.  They  were  used  at  a  party.  Guests  liked  them,  and  the  napkins 
with  the  quotation  were  carried  home  and  put  away  as  choice  souvenirs. 
Quite  incidentally  some  months  later,  the  question  arose  as  to  the  author 
ship  of  the  lines.  Wife  asked  husband,  husband  asked  friend,  friend 
asked  printer,  printer  asked  colored  man.  Colored  man  produced  the 
book  and  consternation  reigned.  Every  copy  was  destroyed  except  the 
printer's.  He  kept  his,  saying  that  he  was  glad  to  have  such  evidence 
of  the  advancement  of  the  colored  people.  The  lady  became  angry  with 
the  printer  because  he  would  not  take  the  quotation  from  his  scrapbook. 
11  The  efforts  to  avoid  the  terms  Mr.,  Mrs.,  Miss,  in  addressing 
colored  people  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  relative  merits  of  the  two 
races,  but  is  simply  an  illustration  of  what  Pope  describes  in  the  follow 
ing  lines : — 

"Few  to  good  breeding  make  just  pretense, 

A  want  of  decency  is  a  want  of  sense." 

This  custom  of  manifesting  superiority  of  race  by  inferiority  of 
manners  has  taken  on  new  vitality  under  the  lead  of  men  who  violate 
alike  the  traditions  and  culture  of  the  South  by  seeking  in  assumed 
race  superiority  a  basis  for  distinction  that  finds  no  warrant  in  per 
sonal  qualifications.  There  are  well-authenticated  incidents  to  show 
that  neither  Washington  nor  Jefferson  possessed  any  of  this  snobbish 
ness  so  characteristic  of  these  uncultured  advocates  of  impoliteness  in 
interracial  relations.  See  also  page  245. 


Medical  graduates. 


The  American  Environment.  369 

ments  that  the  most  superficial  examination  of  race 
literature  would  show  to  be  false, — this  type  of  man 
is  a  source  of  irritation  in  the  racial  situation.  If  the 
average  Southern  white  man,  especially  of  the  work 
ing  class,  only  did  know  and  understand  the  colored 
man,  the  race  problem  would  be  in  immediate  process 
of  solution.  It  is  white  ignorance  of  actual  conditions 
that  forms  the  most  irreducible  factor  in  the  race 
situation. 

III. — INTRARACIAL  ACTIVITIES. 

The  colored  man's  mental  and  spiritual  response  to 
his  American  environment  is  as  notable  as  his  physical 
reaction  thereto.  The  facts  submitted  in  Chapter  XII 
support  this  proposition.  I  will  submit  briefly  some 
additional  evidence. 

A.    PROFESSIONAL. 

The  colored  people  have  evolved  a  creditable  pro 
fessional  class:  teachers,  lawyers,  preachers,  and 
physicians.12 

"There  is  no  more  pathetic  chapter  in  the  history 
of  human  struggle  than  the  smothered  and  suppressed 
ambition  of  this  race  in  its  daring  endeavor  to  meet  the 
greatest  social  exigency  to  supply  the  professional  de 
mand  of  the  masses.  There  was  the  suddenness,  the 
swiftness  of  leap  as  when  a  quantity  in  mathematics 
changes  signs,  passing  through  zero  or  infinity.  In 
an  instant,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  the  plow-hand 
was  changed  into  the  priest,  the  barber  into  the  bishop, 
the  housemaid  into  the  schoolmistress,  the  porter  into 
the  physician,  and  the  day-laborer  into  the  lawyer. 
These  high  places  of  intellectual  and  moral  authority 
into  which  they  found  themselves  thrust  by  the  stress 

12  See  Appendix  F,  "The  Negro  Doctor." 

24 


370  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

of  social  necessity  had  to  be  filled  with  at  least  some 
semblance  of  conformity  with  the  standards  which  had 
been  established  by  the  Europeans  through  the  tradi 
tions  of  the  ages.  The  high  places  in  society  occupied 
by  the  choicest  members  of  the  white  race  after  years 
of  preliminary  preparation  had  to  be  assumed  by  men 
without  personal  or  formal  fitness.  The  stronger  and 
more  aggressive  natures  pushed  themselves  to  the  high 
callings  by  sheer  force  of  untutored  energy  and  uncon 
trolled  ambition.  That  there  would  be  much  gro- 
tesqueness,  maladjustment,  and  failure  goes  without 
saying.  But  after  making  full  allowance  for  human 
imperfections,  the  fifty  thousand  Negroes  who  fill  the 
professional  places  among  their  race  represent  a  re 
markable  body  of  men  and  indicate  the  potency  and 
promise  of  the  race."13 

From  these  professional  workers  there  is  evolving 
a  genuinely  intellectual  class,  whose  attainments  must 
eventually  command  the  respect  of  mankind.  (See 
plate,  University  Men.) 

B.  BUSINESS. 

We  are  evolving  a  business  class  which  the  con 
structive  genius  of  Booker  T.  Washington  is  welding 
into  an  effectual  agency  of  racial  advancement.  The 
Negro  Business  League  is  not  all  banquets  and 
speeches.  Real  advancement  is  being  made  toward 
supplying  the  demands  and  commercial  needs  of  the 
race.  Auburn  Avenue  in  Atlanta,  Georgia,  and  Cedar 
Street  in  Nashville,  Tennessee,  are  striking  illustra 
tions  of  the  race's  growing  business  acumen  and  their 
leading  spirits  (B.  J.  Davis  of  Atlanta  and  A.  N. 
Johnson  of  Nashville)  are  splendid  evidence  of  the 
race's  ability  to  "see  large"  and  constructively  in  busi- 


13  Kelly  Miller,  "Out  of  the  House  of  Bondage." 


The  American  Environment.  371 

ness  matters.  Statistics  on  this  line  are  not  within 
the  scope  of  this  book.  Ample  evidence  of  this  charac 
ter  will  be  found  in  the  "Annual  Reports  of  the  Negro 
Business  League/'  "Census  Bulletin  129,"  "Negroes 
in  the  United  States/'  and  the  files  of  the  Crisis,  a 
monthly  magazine  published  in  the  interest  of  the 
colored  peoples.  We  will  therefore  content  ourselves 
by  saying  there  are  few  avenues  of  business  endeavor, 
from  bootblacking  to  banking,  that  the  Negro  has  not 
somewhere  touched  successfully.  In  every  calling  of 
civilized  activity  in  this  country  some  colored  people 
somewhere  are  making  good.  As  a  race,  the  Afro- 
Americans  are  becoming  self-sufficient.  We  have 
"first-bale  cotton  planters"  in  the  South,  "potato 
kings"  in  the  West,  and  prize-winning  students  in  the 
great  colleges  of  the  North. 


C.    EDUCATIONAL  AND  RELIGIOUS. 

"The  Negro  is  the  most  religious  race  in  the  world, 
and  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  assume  that  he  is  now,  or 
will  be  in  the  future,  satisfied  with  any  form  of 
religious  emotion  that  will  feed  his  superstition. 
This  may  be  true  of  the  very  ignorant,  though  I  do  not 
believe  that  anybody  has  sufficiently  tested  the  matter 
to  assert  such  as  a  fact.  But  I  do  know  there  is  a 
large  element  increasing  among  the  race  who  read  and 
think,  and  who  are  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  the 
best  that  approves  itself  to  their  God-given  reason  and 
religious  faculty."14 

In  school  matters  the  colored  man  is  making  stren 
uous  efforts  to  supplement  the  unfair  distribution  of 
the  public-school  funds.15  Mr.  Charles  L.  Coon, 


14  Bishop    Theodore    D.    Bratton,    of    Jackson,    Miss.,    before    the 
Southern  Sociological  Congress,  Memphis,  Tenn.,  May,  1914. 

15  See  Introduction,  page  7,  and  Appendix  G. 


372  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

Superintendent  of  Schools,  Wilson,  N.  C.,  makes  a 
statistical  investigation  of  the  question,  "Is  the  Negro 
Public  School  in  the  South  a  Burden  on  the  White 
Taxpayer,  and,  if  so,  to  What  Extent?"  Here  is  a 
fair  summary  of  his  conclusions : — 

"The  significance  of  these  figures  is  that,  while  the 
Negro  race  has,  at  least,  40  per  cent,  of  the  children  to 
educate,  not  quite  15  per  cent,  of  the  money  expended 
on  public  education  is  devoted  to  their  schools.  .  .  . 

"It  is  generally  assumed  in  the  discussion  of  the 
cost  of  the  Negro  public  schools,  that  the  white  race 
bears  all  the  cost  or  nearly  all ;  that  the  Negroes  of  the 
South  are  truly  the  white  man's  burden  when  it  comes 
to  paying  the  bills  for  the  public  education.  Much  of 
this  unseasoned  talk  reminds  me  of  the  North  Carolina 
farmer  who  was  in  the  habit  of  asserting  on  all  occa 
sions  that  he  could  live  and  get  along  so  much  better 
if  it  were  not  for  his  large  and  oppressive  doctor  bills. 
But  the  doctor  declared  at  the  next  term  of  the  court, 
on  oath,  that  this  chronic  complainer  had  not  paid  him 
a  cent  in  fifteen  years,  and  that  he  was  the  only  doctor 
in  the  community. 

"A  somewhat  careful  study  of  this  question  for 
several  years  leads  me  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Negro 
school  of  the  South  is  no  serious  burden  on  the  white 
taxpayer.  . 

"Such  facts  give  us  a  glimpse  of  the  economic  im 
portance  of  the  Negro  and  abundantly  justify  us  in 
hoping  that  the  senseless  race  prejudice  which  has  for 
its  object  the  intellectual  enslavement  of  Negro  chil 
dren  will  soon  pass  away."  (See  also  what  Mr.  Bar 
ton  says,  page  234. ) 

"The  Negro  Church  has  furnished  the  Negro  the 
best  opportunity  that  the  race  has  had  in  the  United 
States  to  demonstrate  its  ability  to  govern  itself. 
Scores  of  years  before  the  great  Civil  War  of  1861- 


The  American  Environment.  373 

1865,  Negroes  in  America  were  permitted,  in  many 
places  in  the  North  and  West  and  also  in  a  few  places 
in  the  South,  to  have  their  own  meeting-houses,  and 
under  a  certain  overseership  were  permitted  to  conduct 
their  own  meetings.16  And  since  the  War,  or,  that  is 
to  say,  during  the  past  fifty  years,  the  Negroes  have 
found  in  the  church  the  chief  opportunity  to  show  to 
the  world  that  they  could  organize  in  large  numbers 
and  conduct  great  business  and  religious  enterprises. 

"The  leading  denominations  among  the  Negroes 
are  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  the  Colored 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  Missionary 
Baptist  Church.  We  have  some  Presbyterians,  Con- 
gregationalists,  Episcopalians  and  Roman  Catholics, 
and  we  have  several  thousand  communicants  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  which  we  usually  call  the 
Northern  Methodist  Church  to  distinguish  it  from  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  nevertheless,  these  denominations  last  named  are 
fewer  in  numbers  than  those  named  in  the  first  list 
given,  and,  even  if  their  numbers  were  larger,  the  last- 
named  churches  are  so  mixed  up  with  the  white  de 
nominations  of  the  same  names,  officially  and  other 
wise,  that  they  do  not  furnish  as  bright  examples  of 
the  possibilities  of  the  Negro  race  as  the  Methodists 
and  Baptists  do.  ... 

"The  Negro  Church  has  been  a  remarkable  success. 
Considering  the  environment  of  the  Negro  race  in  this 
country,  I  doubt  if  the  Negro  Church  could  have  more 
nobly  filled  its  huge  and  multiform  task.  . 

"I  confess  that  among  colored  disciples,  as  among 
white  disciples,  there  are  doubtless  many  erring  ones ; 
yet,  on  the  whole,  I  am  sure  that  it  is  fair  to  say  that 


16  See  Payne's  History  of  A.  M.  E.  Church. 


374  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

the  influence  of  the  Negro  Church  has  been  helpful  and 
not  hurtful,  constructive  and  not  destructive,  good  and 
not  bad.  It  is  true  that  every  now  and  then  some 
colored  church-member  will  steal  a  chicken  or  a  ham ; 
but  our  friends  should  be  charitable  with  us  in  this 
matter  because  every  now  and  then  I  read  in  the  news 
papers  where  some  white  church-member  has  con 
fiscated  a  railroad  or  a  bank."17 

The  highest  privileges  of  citizenship  belong  to 
those  who  are  worthy  of  them.  Beyond  all  contro 
versy,  the  American  colored  man  has  proved  himself 
individually  zvorthy  of  all  the  rights  and  immunities  of 
full  citizenship.  This  individual  merit  should  remove 
the  bar  against  the  civil  and  political  rights  of  the  race. 

The  attitude  of  the  colored  man  toward  the  white 
man  is  well  illustrated  by  the  conduct  of  a  little  boy  on 
a  dusty  and  shadeless  lane  one  hot  summer  day.  A 
rather  stout  lady  with  a  wide  hat  on  was  walking 
briskly  along  the  road.  She  chanced  to  look  down 
and  noticed  a  boy  walking  close  beside  her. 

"What  do  you  want?"  she  asked. 

"Nothing,"  said  the  boy,  "I  am  just  going  to  the 
store."  Offering  in  no  way  to  molest  her,  he  still  kept 
very  close  to  her. 

"Why  do  you  keep  so  close  to  me?"  asked  the  lady. 
"Go  on  about  your  business,"  commanded  she. 

"Please  ma'am  don't  send  me  away,"  pleaded  the 
boy.  "I'll  behave,  I'm  going  the  same  way.  I'll  keep 
the  dogs  off  you ;  and  you  are  the  only  shady  spot  on 
the  road" 

The  same  hard  road  leads  from  slaveholder  to  free 
holder  that  leads  from  freedman  to  freeman.  Fellow- 
travellers  should  not  jostle  each  other.  The  white 


17  "The  Negro  Church  as  a  Medium  for  Race  Expression,"  C.  T. 
Walker,  D.D.,  Pastor  Tabernacle  Institutional  Colored  Baptist  Church, 
Augusta,  Ga. 


The  American  Environment.  375 

man's  culture  can  increase  the  colored  man's  speed, 
while  the  colored  man's  docility  and  patriotism  can  in 
crease  the  white  man's  safety.  The  long  journey  from 
oligarchy  to  democracy  will  tax  the  endurance  of 
both.  They  can  make  it  only  by  co-operation. 

"On  every  hand  in  this  fair  land, 
Proud  Ethiope's  swarthy  children  stand 

Beside  their  fairer  neighbor; 
The  forests  flee  before  their  stroke, 
Their  hammers  ring,  their  forges  smoke, — 

They*  stir  in  honest  labor. 

"No  other  race,  or  white  or  black, 
When  bound  as  thou  wert,  to  the  rack, 

So  seldom  stooped  to  grieving; 
No  other  race,  when  free  again, 
Forgot  the  past  and  proved  them  men 

So  noble  in  forgiving. 

"Be  proud,  my  Race,  in  mind  and  soul ; 
Thy  name  is  writ  on  Glory's  scroll 

In  characters  of  fire. 

High  'mid  the  clouds  of  Fame's^  bright  sky 
Thy  banner's  blazoned  folds  now  fly, 

And  truth  shall  lift  them  higher. 

"Thou  hast  the  right  to  noble  pride, 
Whose  spotless  robes  were  purified 

By  blood's  severe  baptism. 
Upon  thy  brow  the  cross  was  laid, 
And  labor's  painful  sweat-beads  made 

A  consecrating  chrism. 

"Go  en  and  up!     Our  souls  and  eyes 
Shall  follow  thy  continuous  rise; 

Our  ears  shall  list  thy  story 
From  bards  who  from  thy  root  shall  spring, 
And  proudly  tune  their  lyres  to  sing 
Of  Ethiopia's  Glory." 

DUNBAR,  "Lyrics  of  Lowly  Life," 


"He  (the  Negro)  has  remarkable  and  ungaugeable  capa 
bilities.  It  has  been  possible,  over  and  over  again,  for  in 
dividual  Negroes  to  leap  from  a  position  of  mental  inferiority, 
such  as  the  Caucasian's  ancestors  may  have  occupied  fifty  or 
even  a  hundred  thousand  years  ago,  to  an  equality  in  brain 
power  with  some  of  the  cleverest  and  ablest  white  men  living 
at  the  present  day.  And  it  is  always  to  be  borne  in  mind 
(if  we  are  not  overrating  the  importance  of  the  discovery  of 
fossil  negroids  in  Southern  and  Western  France)  that  several 
branches  of  the  Negro  race  may  have  known  better  days  ten 
to  forty  thousand  years  ago,  that  the  ancestors  of  the  modern 
Negro  in  Africa  may  have  pursued  a  downward  course  for 
many  thousand  years  before  their  descendant  was  turned 
right-about-face  by  his  Caucasian  brother  and  compelled  to 
take  the  ascending  path  which  may  lead  him  at  some  future 
period  to  a  position  of  all-around  equality  with  the  white 
man." — SIR  HARRY  JOHNSTON,  "The  Negro  in  the  New 
World." 


(376) 


Mixed-blood  types. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

RECAPITULATION. 

THIS  book  is  a  brief  and  not  a  credo;  primarily  it  is 
a  summary  and  an  analysis  of  the  testimony  of  others 
and  only  incidentally  an  expression  of  my  personal 
opinions  and  beliefs.  I  have  appeared  as  an  attorney 
for  my  people,  not  as  a  witness.  I  do,  however,  believe 
with  my  whole  being  the  propositions  herein  sought 
to  be  established  and  have  faith  in  the  people  I 
represent. 

I  have  suppressed  no  testimony  and  have  intro 
duced  no  self-serving  witnesses.  I  have  sought  to 
strengthen  the  judgment  with  facts  rather  than  fire  the 
imagination  with  prejudice. 

The  wail  for  liberty  greets  the  dawn  of  history  and 
the  lash  of  the  taskmaster  is  heard  around  the  world. 
"A  harsh,  unrelenting  tyranny  of  ancestral  defect" 
seems  to  have  inoculated  the  blood  of  mankind  with 
the  virus  of  oppression. 

Injustice  goes  by  greed  and  opportunity,  and  de 
bauchery  goes  by  weakness  and  passion.  Color  or 
race  has  little  to  do  with  either.  The  problems  of 
Decatur  Street  in  Atlanta,  Ga.,  are  the  problems  of 
City  Roads  in  London,  England;  and  so  the  world 
over.  We  are  face  to  face  with  the  age-long  struggle 
man  has  made  for  liberty.  In  every  age  and  every 
clime  men  have  sung  of  liberty  and  preached  of  jus 
tice,  but  always  with  a  circumscription  that  brought 
calamity. 

It  is  our  privilege  to  build  upon  the  ruins  of  the 
past  the  civilizations  of  the  future.  Universality  is 
the  new  light  by  which  modern  thought  hopes  to  end 
man's  age-long  quest  for  justice. 

(377) 


378  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

When  Frenchmen  wrote  with  patriotic  blood 
"Liberte,  egalite,  fraternite"  on  the  escutcheon  of 
France,  its  blessings  were  intended  mainly  for  French 
men;  when  the  Barons  forced  the  Bill  of  Rights  from 
King  John  at  Runnymede  they  were  defending  the 
rights  of  a  class.  When  the  54th  Massachusetts  un 
flinchingly  faced  death  upon  the  bloody  sands  of  Fort 
Wagner, 

"The  Old  Flag  never  touched  the  ground," 

that  the  courage  of  a  race  might  be  vindicated.  When 
Lincoln  issued  his  famous  Emancipation  Proclama 
tion,  it  was  done  to  save  a  government.  The  religious 
liberty  for  which  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  broke  up  their 
homes  and  ventured  across  a  chartless  ocean,  to  re 
side  in  a  trackless  wilderness,  was  not  broad  enough 
to  cover  New  England.  Leonidas  and  his  three 
hundred  Lacedaemonians  died  at  Thermopylae  in  de 
fense  of  Greece.  Xenophen  led  the  Retreat  of  the 
Ten  Thousand  for  the  same  purpose.  The  Noble 
Six  Hundred  died  for  the  martial  glory  of  England, 
and  Caesar  lived  and  died  to  glorify  Rome.  The  "All 
Men"  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  excluded 
the  majority  of  mankind. 

In  all  human  history  the  spirit  of  slavery,  or 
oppression,  and  the  spirit  of  freedom,  or  democracy, 
have  been  struggling  for  the  mastery.1 

There  is  no  phase  of  human  thought  more  interest- 


1  "There  is  no  difference  between  the  white  man  and  the  colored 
man.  Both  will  enslave  their  own  blood.  We  are  told  that  we  have 
slaveholders  now  in  our  church.  If  we  do  not  stop  our  members  from 
slaveholding,  our  ministers  will  become  slaveholders  also.  I  say,  again, 
every  religious  body  is  speaking  out,  and  shall  we  not  do  the  same? 
Shall  we  fear  to  speak  out?  I  say  today,  being  no  prophet  nor  a 
prophet's  son,  if  we  allow  our  brethren  to  deal  in  this  charitable  slave- 
holding,  in  less  than  twenty  years  we  shall  have  practical  ones."  (De 
bate  in  A.  M.  E.  General  Conference,  1856,  M.  P.  Newsome  speaking.) 
In  the  same  debate  G.  Broadie,  said :  "The  color  of  a  man's  skin  does 
not  change  his  disposition  to  apologise  for  slavery." 


Recapitulation.  379 


ing  and  instructive  than  the  evolution  of  the  slavery 
idea.  The  early  writers  before,  and  including  Aris 
totle,  take  for  granted  its  existence.  Then  there  grad 
ually  creeps  into  the  discussion  the  idea  that  a  govern 
ment  may  exist  without  slavery.  This,  however,  is 
only  a  Utopian  dream.  But  even  dreamers  never 
thought  universal  freedom  compatible  with  difference 
of  race. 

So  from  the  universal  applicability  of  slavery,  the 
idea  gradually  narrowed  to  its  specific  necessity.  The 
men  that  established  African  slavery  in  America 
believed  in  slavery,  and  no  ethnic  classification  was 
necessary  to  give  it  validity.  White  men  and  red 
men  were  just  as  acceptable  as  slaves  as  black  men. 

In  1538  the  bull  of  excommunication  against 
Henry  VIII  was  published.  "By  that  bull  the  king 
was  deprived  of  his  kingdom;  his  subjects  were  not 
only  absolved  from  their  oath  of  allegiance,  but  com 
manded  to  take  arms  against  him  and  drive  him  from 
the  throne;  the  whole  kingdom  was  laid  under  inter 
dict;  all  treaties  of  friendship,  of  commerce  with  him 
and  his  subjects  were  declared  null;  his  kingdom  was 
granted  to  any  who  should  invade  it,  and  all  were 
allowed  "to  seize  the  effects  of  such  of  his  subjects  as 
adhere  to  him,  and  to  enslave  their  persons."2 

"The  code  for  1650"  provided  for  the  seizure  of 
Indians  "either  to  serve  or  be  shipped  out  and  ex 
changed  for  negars."  The  color  of  the  African  was 
only  one  of  the  last  resorts  of  the  oppressors,  an  inner 
fortification  of  the  fortress  of  tyranny.  The  claim 
that  the  enslavement  of  the  African  was  necessary  to 
preserve  the  civilization  of  the  world  was  the  last 
agonizing  shriek  of  a  hoary  old  error  "dying  amid  her 
worshippers."  As  the  enslavement  of  the  African  in 


2  Fletcher,  "Studies  on  Slavery,"  page  368. 


380  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

America  was  simply  another  application  of  the  old 
spirit  of  slavery,  so  the  laws  against  him  were  but 
transplantations  of  old-world  cruelties  which  Euro 
peans  had  practised  on  Europeans. 

The  first  fugitive-slave  law  originated  not  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  at  Washington  in  1850, 
but  in  a  Council  of  Bishops  assembled  in  the  city  of 
Gangrse,  Paphlagonia,  about  325  A.D.  :— 

"Si  quis  docet  servum,  pietatis  praetextu,  domi- 
num  contemnere,  et  a  ministerio  recedere,  et  non  cum 
benevolentia  et  omni  honore  domino  suo  inservire. 
Anathema  sit."3 

So  the  fugitive-slave  law  had  its  origin  in  the 
system  of  slavery,  and  not  in  the  race  of  the  slave. 

About  the  year  442  A.D.,  the  canonical  law  was 
established  denying  slaves  or  freedmen  the  right  to 
testify  in  court.  Some  years  earlier,  possibly  about 
360  A.D.,  the  right  of  the  master  to  sanction,  annul,  or 
forbid  the  marriage  of  female  slaves  was  canonically 
established. 

Here  we  have  two  other  cardinal  injustices  of 
American  slavery  of  the  African  originating  not  in 
the  race  of  the  slave,  but  in  the  system  of  slavery. 

The  denial  to  the  slave  of  the  right  to  testify 
against  the  master  was  a  bulwark  of  tyranny  and  laws 
of  marriage  were  so  interpreted  and  applied  as  to  in 
sure  the  concubinage  or  prostitution  of  the  slave 
without  blame  to  the  master.  The  great  mass  of  these 
slaves  were  of  the  same  race  and  color  as  their  mas 
ters.  The  principle  of  slavery  is  always  the  same. 
Britons  raided  Ireland  for  slaves  and  carried  them 
home  for  sale  among  the  Picts  and  Scots.4 


8  "If  anyone,  under  the  pretence  of  piety,  teaches  a  slave  to  despise 
his  master,  and  to  withdraw  his  service,  and  not  to  serve  his  master 
with  good-will  and  all  respect,  let  him  be  anathema."  (Fletcher,  page 
277.) 

4  See  Eccles,  "History  of  Ireland,"  vol.  i,  ch.  iv. 


Recapitulation.  381 


"The  savages  of  Africa  may  traffic  with  the 
Europeans  for  the  Negroes  whom  they  have  seized 
by  treachery  or  captured  in  open  war;  but  the  most 
savage  conquerors  of  the  Britons  sold  without  scruple, 
to  the  merchants  of  the  Continent,  their  countrymen 
and  even  their  own  children."5 

The  principle  of  slavery  was  held  to  be  sound 
economics  and  universally  applicable!  to  all  people.  It 
was  only  when  the  rising  tide  of  civilization  con 
demned  the  principle  of  slavery  that  those  interested 
sought  in  the  features  and  disposition  of  the  African 
a  justification  of  its  practice.6 

The  subjection  of  women  was  once  just  as  firmly 
believed  and  stoutly  argued  on  the  ground  of  sex  in 
feriority  as  the  slavery  of  the  African  was  defended 
upon  the  grounds  of  race  inferiority.  In  fact,  the 
inferiority  doctrine  is  the  oldest  weapon  in  the  arsenal 
of  tyranny. 

"In  England,"  says  Buckle  (1822-1862),  "wives 
are  still  occasionally  led  to  the  market  by  a  halter 
round  the  neck,  to  be  sold  by  the  husband  to  the  high 
est  bidder."  "The  sale  of  a  wife,"  remarks  Borrow, 
"with  a  halter  round  her  neck  is  still  a  legal  trans 
action  in  England.  The  sale  must  be  made  in  the 
cattle  market,  as  if  she  were  a  mare,  all  women  being 
considered  as  mares  by  old  English  law,  and,  indeed, 
called  mares  in  certain  counties  where  genuine  old 
English  law  is  still  preserved."  Wives  were  traded  in 
this  country.7 

"Women,"  says  Gage,  "were  taught  by  the  Church 
and  the  State  alike  that  the  Feudal  Lord  or  Seigneur 
hadj  a  right  to  them,  not  only  against  themselves,  but 
as  against  any  claim  of  husband  or  father.  The  law 


5  Fletcher. 

6  See  Chapter  X,  on  Mulattoes. 

7  See  "Iron  Furnace,"  by  Aughey,  ch.  vii. 


382  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

known  as  Marchetta,  or  Marquette,  compelled  newly 
married  women  to  a  most  dishonorable  servitude. 
They  were  regarded  as  the  rightful  prey  of  the 
Feudal  Lord  from  one  to  three  days  after  their  mar 
riage,  and  from  this  custom  the  eldest  son  of  the  serf 
was  held  as  the  serf  of  the  lord,  'as  perchance  it  was 
he  who  begat  him/  From  this  nefarious  degradation 
of  women  the  custom  of  Borough  English  arose,  in 
which  the  youngest  son  became  the  heir. 
France,  Germany,  Prussia,  England,  Scotland,  and  all 
the  Christian  countries  wrhere  feudalism  existed,  held 
to  the  enforcement  of  Marquette.  The  lord  deemed 
this  right  as  fully  his  as  he  did  the  claim  to  half  the 
crops  of  the  land,  or  to  half  the  wool  of  the  sheep."8 

As  the  slave  system  found  its  last  defense  in  the 
color  and  features  of  the  African,  so  civic  discrimina 
tion  is  hiding  behind  the  assumption  of  unfitness  for 
citizenship  of  the  present  generation  of  colored  people. 
As  the  enslavement  of  all  grades  of  mixed  blood  and 
even  pure-white  people  destroyed  slavery  as  a  menace 
to  the  nation,  so  will  the  increasing  general  intelli 
gence  finally  see  that  discrimination  against  any  class 
of  citizens  will  undermine  the  temple  of  justice. 
There  is  not  an  argument  now  made  against  the  full 
citizenship  of  the  Negro  that  was  not  made  against 
emancipation?  In  1851  it  was  just  as  stoutly  main- 


8  "Woman,"  vol.  ii,  page  343. 

9  Senator  Vardaman  is  a  worthy  successor  to  Sen.  A.  G.  Brown,  of 
the  same  State.     "A.  G.  Brown,  United  States  Senator  from  Missis 
sippi,  to  reconcile  the  poor  whites  to  the  peculiar  institution,  used  the 
following  argument  in  a  speech  at  luka  Springs,  Miss.    He  stated  that 
if  the  slaves  were  liberated,  and  suffered  to  remain  in  the  country,  the 
rich  would  have  money  to  enable  them  to  go  to  some  other  clime,  and 
that  the  poor  whites  would  be  compelled  to  remain  among  the  negroes, 
who  would  steal  their  property  and  destroy  their  lives;  and  if  slavery 
were  abolished,  and  the  negroes  removed  and  colonized,  the  rich  would 
take  the  poor  whites  for  slaves,  in  their  stead,  and  reduce  them  to  the 
condition  of  the  Irish  and   Dutch  in  the   North,  whose  condition  he 
represented  to  be  one  of  cruel  bondage.     These  statements  had  some 
effect  upon  his  auditors,  who  believed,  from  sad  experience,  that  the 


Recapitulation.  383 


tained  that  the  enfranchisement  of  women  meant 
emancipation  for  the  slaves  as  it  is  now  maintained 
that  votes  for  women  mean  "negro  domination." 
Negro  freedom  ("abolitionism")  was  no  more  popular 
then  than  Negro  rights  are  now.10  Tyranny  is  al 
ways  conservative  and  predicts  disaster  when  free 
dom  calls  for  progress.  The  inferiority  and  social 
equality  arguments  were  worked  overtime.  Even  the 
mob  was  resorted  to  freely  and  frequently,  and  not  in 
the  South  only,  but  there  were  mobs  all  over  the  North 
wherever  anti-slavery  missionaries  went.  "July  4, 
1834,  there  was  a  mob  in  New  York  when  the  house 
of  Louis  Tappan  was  searched.  At  the  same  time  the 
schoolhouses  and  churches  of  colored  people  were  at 
tacked  and  damaged.  August  13,  in  the  same  year, 
there  was  aj  terrible  riot  in  Philadelphia,  that  con 
tinued  for  three  nights.  Forty-four  houses  of  colored 
people  were  damaged  and  destroyed.  Many  colored 
people  were  beaten  and  cruelly  injured,  and  some  were 
killed. 

"In  the  year  1835  Rev.  Samuel  J.  May  was  mobbed 
five,  times  in  Vermont.  If  there  ever  was  a  man,  at 
the  same  time  perfectly  courageous  and  straightfor 
ward,  and  also  sweet-tempered  and  fair  to  his  oppon 
ents,  it  was  Samuel  Joseph  May.  One  would  have 
supposed  him  to  be  the  last  man  to  be  mobbed. 
October  21,  1835,  there  was  a  riot  in  Utica,  and  an 
other  on  the  same  day  in  the  city  of  Boston,  when  the 
meeting  of  the  Woman's  Anti-slavery  Society  was 
broken  up,  and  Garrison  was  carried  through  the 
street  with  a  rope  round  his  body.  He  was  protected 
by  Major  Lyman,  and  put  in  jail  for  safety.  On  the 


rich  could  oppress  the  poor  as  they  chose,  and  might,  in  the  contingency 
specified,  reduce  them  to  slavery."  ("Slavery  and  Secession,"  by  Rev. 
John  H.  Aughey.) 

10  See  Sojourner  Truth's  "Book  of  Life." 


384  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

same  day,  a  convention  of  delegates  met  at  Utica  and 
formed  an  anti-slavery  society.  They  were  shut  out  of 
the  courthouse  by  a  mob ;  then  they  went  to  a  meeting 
house,  but  the  assembly  was  broken  up,  and  they  were 
driven  away  with  much  violence.  On  the  I7th  of  May, 
1838,  Penn  Hall,  built  by  the  friends  of  free  discus 
sion  at  a  cost  of  forty  thousand  dollars,  and  dedicated 
on  May  I4th,  was  burned  by  a  mob.  Colored  orphan 
asylums  and  churches  were,  at  the  same  time,  attacked 
and  damaged."11 

Yet  freedom  came;  for  the  arguments  against 
freeing  the  colored  man  were  but  repetitions  of  the 
arguments  that  had  been  made  against  freeing  the 
white  man.  "All  the  charms  that  a  Divine  eloquence 
and  a  felicitous  diction  could  throw  around  a  bad 
cause"  once  defended  the  slave  system.  It  is,  how 
ever,  dead,  and  there  is  not  a  mourner  in  all  the  broad 
land.  So  will  it  be  with  the  new  serfdom  so  eloquently 
defended  in  the  high  places  today.1 2  It  may  obstruct 
but  cannot  stop  the  onward  march  of  this  country  to 
real  democracy. 

Time  has  a  wonderful  power  of  metamorphosis. 
Slavery  was  first  introduced  in  the  South,  but  first 
defended  in  the  North.  Massachusetts  objected  to 


11  Clarke,  ''Anti-slavery  Days." 

12  Ready's  Mirror,  a  white  paper  of  St.  Louis,  in  a  recent  issue  says : 
"Out  upon  the  proposal  now  industriously  pushed  for  the  segregation 
of  Negroes  in  this  city !    Segregation  is  a  punishment.    The  community 
can  only  punish  for  crime.    It  is  no  crime  to  be  born  black.    And  there 
is  no  way  by  which  we  can  deprive  a  Negro  of  his  property,  wherever 
located,  without  due  process  of  law.    The  cry  that  Negroes  ruin  neigh 
borhoods  is  a  false  one.    Neighborhoods  are  ruined,  generally  speaking, 
before  Negroes  enter  them;    They  are  ruined  by  real-estate  speculation 
luring  residents  to  newer  regions  and  by  the  refusal  of  landlords  to 
keep  property  in  such  repair  as  will  hold  white  tenants.    We  can't  begin 
segregating  Negroes  without  starting  in  a  course  that  will  end  in  our 
segregating  'poor  whites.'    We  can't  segregate  Negroes  without  packing 
them  into  regions  where  they  will  be  subjected  to  the  exaction  of  higher 
rents.    Back  of  segregation  there's  graft,  but  back  of  that  is  the  desire 
of  some  mighty  sorry  specimens  of  people  to  have  somebody  they  can 
look  down  upon." 


Random  types. 


Recapitulation.  385 


Negro  soldiers  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  the  vote 
of  Massachusetts  in  the  Constitutional  Convention 
opened  the  door  for  slavery's  entrance  to  the  Union. 
Yet  Massachusetts  led  the  fight  that  expelled  it  and 
raised  and  officered  the  first  Negro  soldiers  in  the  Civil 
War.  The  North  sought  secession  to  get  rid  of 
slavery.  The  South  called  it  treason  and  resisted,  yet 
the  South  fired  the  first  shot  in  favor  of  secession  and 
the  North  answered  with  an  irresistible  army  for  the 
Union.  Pro-slavery  and  anti-Negro  mobs  began  in 
the  North,  and  now  the  North  points  the  finger  of 
scorn  at  the  South.  The  South  may  yet  become  the 
real  champion  of  the  Negro's  citizenship  rights  and 
the  leaders  of  the  world's  civilization.  Southerners 
are,  and  have  ever  been,  a  courageous  and  outspoken 
people.  Once  thoroughly  convinced  and  aroused, 
there  is  no  hesitancy  or  evasion. 

The  North  is  apathetic  on  the  race  discussion  now, 
as  it  was  for  so  long  a  time  on  the  slavery  question. 
The  sections  take  turns  at  being  interested.  When 
they  get  aroused  simultaneously,  something  generally 
happens.  The  South  should  lead.  The  facts  of 
religion,  science,  and  history  all  point  the  same  way. 

"We  need  not  more  facts,  valuable  as  these  are, 
but  more  faith;  not  more  statistics  and  academic 
studies,  but  more  religion,  more  genuine  religion — 
more  faith  in  the  brotherhood  of  man  and  the  Father 
hood  of  God — actually  to  believe  in  it,  as  we  believe 
that  the  earth  revolves  around  the  sun ;  and  not  merely 
subscribe  to  it  perfunctorily  on  Sundays.  It  is  good 
science,  as  well  as  good  religion,  and  we  need  to  take 
it  seriously.  Let  us  confess  it;  we  need  more  love 
and  sympathy  and  charity  and  the  milk  of  human 
kindness  when  we  deal  with  people  who  are  differ 
ent  and  less  fortunate  than  ourselves;  more  noblesse 
oblige  with  those  handicapped  in  life's  struggle.  And 


386  American  Civilisation  and  the  Negro. 

these  things  are  not  to  be  had  on  the  presentation  of 
a  few  facts.  They  need  to  be  cultivated  and  developed 
by  constant  preaching  and  teaching  from  press  and 
pulpit  and  platform,  in  the  schools  and  colleges  and  on 
the  stump.  We  need  missionary  work  and  a  company 
of  fearless  missionaries  who  will  have  the  high  cour 
age  to  teach  unpopular  truths  to  their  own  people  and 
in  their  own  communities. 

"I  say  these  things,  not  as  one  who  brings  an  in 
dictment  against  his  people.  Far  from  it.  I  know  we 
are  a  generous  folk,  warm-hearted,  chivalric,  and 
sympathetic;  we  have  noble  impulses  and  worthy 
ideals ;  we  cultivate  the  virtues  as  well  as  the  graces  of 
enlightened  society,  and  no  people  is  quicker  to  re 
spond  to  human  appeals  than  we  are.  Had  the  slaves 
been  taken  originally  to  Germany,  Russia,  Turkey,  or 
other  foreign  countries,  I  am  sure  that  the  most  active 
and  eloquent  champions  of  their  'God-given  and  in 
alienable  rights  and  privileges  as  human  beings'  would 
have  come  from  our  own  Southern  States.  For  we 
instinctively  hate  oppression  and  tyranny  in  whatever 
shape  or  form.  And  yet  we  do  not  altogether  live  up 
to  this  characterization  in  our  treatment  of  the  Negro. 
How  shall  we  explain  the  inconsistency? 

"To  answer  this  adequately  would  require  an 
extended  psychological  analysis  of  race  prejudice, 
many  elements  of  which  are  older  than  the  human 
race,  and  not  without  their  positive  value  in  the  evolu 
tion  of  the  species.  There  is  one  element,  however, 
which  plays  a  very  important  role,  but  which  has  not 
as  yet  received  its  due  recognition.  I  refer  to  the 
power  which  ideas  and  beliefs  have  over  conduct. 
When  Descartes'  persuaded  his  contemporaries  that 
animals  are  mere  automata,  without  intelligence  or 
feeling,  even  the  tender-hearted  Malebranche  could 
without  hurt  to  his  feelings  kick  the  dog  that  was 


Recapitulation.  387 


fawning  on  him.  When  belief  in  demoniacal  posses 
sion  was  prevalent,  excellent,  God-fearing  men  helped 
to  burn,  stone,  and  drown  the  possessed.  The  belief 
that  their  ancestors  were  much  wiser  and  better  than 
they  could  ever  hope  to  become  had  much  to  do  with 
arresting  development  of  the  Chinese  for  more  than 
two  thousand  years.  And  so  the  illustrations  could 
be  multiplied! 

"I  fear  the  attitude  of  many  of  our  people  toward 
the  Negro  has  been  determined  to  a  considerable 
extent  by  equally  erroneous  ideas.  They  have  been 
persuaded  by  a  generation  of  short-sighted,  unedu 
cated,  and  unscrupulous  demagogues  that  the  develop 
ment  of  the  Negro  is  somehow  incompatible  with  the 
best  interests  of  the  white  man;  that  prosperity  for 
the  black  man  spells  ruin  for  the  white  man ;  that  what 
is  good  for  the  one  is  bad  for  the  other;  that  what  is 
true  for  one  is  false  for  the  other.  And  so  this  strange 
state  of  affairs  has  come  to  pass:  that  those  traits 
and  things  we  admire  when  possessed  by  ourselves 
and  all  the  white  world,  we  dislike  when  they  appear 
in  the  Negro;  our  virtues,  when  cultivated  and  prac 
tised  by  the  black  man,  become  by  some  strange 
alchemy  transformed  into  vices.  Thus  we  recognize 
that  education  is  a  good  thing,  and  those  who  strive 
for  it  are  deserving  of  approbation  and  even  praise. 
Likewise,  manliness  and  self-respect  are  commend 
able  ;  and  ambition  and  thrift  and  the  pursuit  of  happi 
ness  are  not  to  be  condemned.  And  yet  there  are  too 
many  who  prefer  the  ignorant,  lazy,  diseased,  immoral 
Negro — even  the  vicious  and  criminal  one — to  the 
self-respecting,  progressive,  property-owning,  edu 
cated  one. 

"Now,  it  is  evident  that  this  condition  cannot  long 
continue  without  endangering  the  very  foundations  of 
our  civilization.  Double-dealing  of  this  sort  is  bound 


388  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 

ultimately  to  bring  bankruptcy  and  ruin.  Hence  the 
urgent  need,  as  I  see  it,  of  courage,  patriotism,  and 
zeal  to  be  spent  in  popular  educational  efforts  which 
shall  seek  to  bring  about  a  change  in  the  prevailing 
attitude  toward  the  Negro  similar  to  that  Rousseau 
wrought,  single-handed,  in  the  field  of  education 
proper,  and  later  in  the  realm  of  government."13 

"To  bring  any  public  question  fairly  into  the  open 
field  of  literary  debate  is  always  a  long  step  toward 
its  final  adjustment.  It  is  across  that  field  that  the 
question  must  go  to  be  so  purged  of  its  irrelevancies, 
misinterpretations,  and  misuses,  personal,  partisan,  or 
illogical,  and  so  clarified  and  simplified  as  to  make  it 
easy  for  the  popular  mind  to  take  practical  and  final 
action  on  it  and  settle  it  once  for  all  by  settling  it 
right. 

"It  is  in  this  field  that  the  Negro  problem  still 
forces  itself  to  the  front  as  a  living  and  urgent 
national  question."  (Cable.) 

Free  speech  is  the  salvation  of  freedom.  A 
government  must  be  free  to  be  just,  and  must  be  just 
to  be  pure.  But  neither  purity  nor  justice  will  come 
without  freedom,  nor  stay  when  it  is  gone.  Again  I 
quote  the  forceful  words  of  Mr.  Murphy: — 

"Dark,  indeed,  must  be  the  fate  of  any  land  if 
compelled  to  approach  the  solution  of  any  significant 
problem  of  its  life  with  its  lips  sealed  and  its  reason 
bound." 

Tyranny  does  not  always  crush;  it  sometimes 
rebounds  and  explodes.  Thus  came  the  American 
Revolution.  Thus  came  the  French  Revolution. 
Overeagerness  to  defend  slavery  brought  on  the  Civil 
War  and  emancipation. 

Slavery  is  dead,  but  its  spirit  lives14  and  modern 


13  Prof.  Josiah  Morse,  Ph.D.,  University  of  South  Carolina. 

14  How  like  ante-bellum  philippics  of  Toombs  reads  Smith's  Color- 
line ! 


Random  types. 


Recapitulation.  389 


democracy  is  trembling  at  the  apparition.  The  light 
of  free  discussion  will  banish  the  ghost.  Let  us  wake 
up  and  shake  off  the  nightmare  of  the  past.  Liberty 
is  not  dangerous.  Only  the  belief  that  liberty  is 
dangerous  is  a  danger  to  freedom. 

"We  are  too  much  inclined  to  underrate  the  power 
of  moral  influence.  Nothing  but  freedom,  justice,  and 
truth  is  of  any  permanent  advantage  to  the  mass  of 
mankind.  This  is  'an  age  when  the  accumulated  com 
mon  sense  of  the  people  outweighs  the  greatest  states 
man  or  the  most  influential  individual/  You  may 
build  your  Capitol  of  granite,  and  pile  it  high  as  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  if  it  is  founded  on  or  mixed  up 
with  iniquity,  the  pulse  of  a  girl  will  beat  it  down. 

"The  gem  forms  unseen.  The  granite  increases 
and  crumbles,  and  you  can  hardly  mark  either  process. 
The  great  change  in  a  nation's  opinion  is  the  same. 
The  accumulated  intellect  of  the  masses  is  greater 
than  the  heaviest  brain  God  ever  gave  a  single 
man."15 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  man  can  receive  but  one 
thing  in  exchange  for  liberty,  and  that  is  slavery ;  and 
no  man  can  be  wholly  free  while  his  neighbor  is  partly 
slave  (segregated).  The  taint  of  involuntary  servi 
tude  affects  us  all.16 

The  entire  race  question  may  be  comprehended 
in  a  few  words : — 

I. 

Is  there  anything  in  the  blood,  beliefs,  conduct,  or 
history  of  the  colored  American  to  disqualify  him  for 
full  citizenship  in  this  country? 

My1  answer  is,  No!  The  facts  impartially  con 
sidered  prove  exactly  the  opposite. 

is  Wendell  Phillips,  "Public  Opinion." 

16  Mosby,  "Causes  and  Cures  of  Crime,"  page  166. 


390  American  Civilization  and  the  Negro. 


II. 

Will  the  granting  this  full  citizenship  to  the 
colored  American  in  any  way  endanger  the  integrity 
of  either  race? 

My  answer  is,  No!  It  will,  on  the!  other  hand, 
strengthen  racial  lines.  The  comity  of  races  will  en 
courage  a  friendly  rivalry  that  will  increase  race  pride 
while  killing  race  prejudice. 


III. 

Is  it  not  possible  for  the  Afro-American  and  the 
Euro-American  to  co-operate  peaceably  and  con 
structively  in  politics  and  economics  and  wisely  leave 
the  personal  and  social  matters  to  settle  themselves  as 
all  wise  people  have  done  throughout  the  world? 

I  answer,  Yes!  The  more  intelligent  and  reason 
able  each  race  becomes,  and  the  better  acquainted  each 
race  becomes  with  the  other,  the  more  clearly  will  they 
each  see  the  folly  of  confusing  public  duty  with  private 
choice. 


IV. 

As  the  evidence  submitted  establishes  the  sound 
ness  of  all  three  of  the  above-mentioned  propositions, 
what  is  the  best  method  of  race  adjustment  now 
available  to  the  people  of  the  South  under  present 
conditions  ? 

Science,  religion,  common  sense,  history,  and 
experience  all  tell  us  the  same  thing:— 

Start  from  where  you  are.  Build  on  these  propo 
sitions  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against 
you! 


Recapitulation.  391 


At  heart  the  American  people  believe  in  fair  play. 
"Visioning  the  fruitage  of  the  coming  golden  day,"  I 
am  willing  to  accept  the  majority  judgment  of  the 
American  people;  yea,  of  the  Southern  people,  if  they 
will  examine  the  facts,  and  hear  the  arguments  of  both 
sides.  This  has  not  been  done.  In  many  sections  only 
one  side  has  been  heard.  Prejudice  has  arraigned  the 
Negro  in  the  Court  of  Civilization;  I  present  a  brief 
for  the  Defendant.  I  have  impartially  summarized 
the  evidence  for  the  convenience  of  the  honorable 
court,  Public  Opinion,  and  pray  judgment  in  accord 
ance  with  the  facts. 

"Ruler  of  Nations,  judge  our  cause ! 
If  we  have  kept  Thy  holy  laws, 
The  sons  of  Belial  curse  in  vain 
The  day  that  rends  the  captive's  chain." 


APPENDIX  A. 

THE  COLOR-LINE  PROBLEM  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

JUST  after  finishing  the  discussion  of  the  mulatto  in  Chap 
ter  X  I  received  the  following  letter,  which  contains  a  great 
many  facts  that  should  be  known  to  all  who  would  understand 
the  race  question.  Without  prepossession,  prejudice,  or  com 
ment,  I  submit  the  facts.  Let  each  reader  interpret  them  for 
himself : — 

"In  South  Carolina  we  recognize  the  octoroons  as  white 
people."1  These  were  the  exact  words  of  Senator  B.  R.  Till- 
man,  February  23,  1903,  in  the  U.  S.  Senate  in  answer  to  Sena 
tor  Spooner  on  the  Indianola,  Miss.,  postorfice  case,  where  a 
mob  in  the  form  of  a  mass-meeting  demanded  the  resignation  of 
Mrs.  Minnie  Cox  because  she  was  not  white.  Among  all  the 
Southern  senators  present,  none  questioned  the  correctness  of 
this  classification  by  Senator  Tillman,  everybody  seemingly 
agreeing  that  octoroons  shall  be  classified  as  white;  nor  has 
anyone  from  any  quarter  since  protested  or  disputed  the  South 
Carolinian's  dictum.  It  is  not  my  purpose  now  to  call  it  in 
question,  but  rather  to  inquire  why  the  color-line  should  stop 
at  equal  division,  or  mulatto?  This  whole  color-line  problem 
seems  thoroughly  inconsistent  when  tested  by  logic.  In  the 
very  forefront  we  may  ask,  Who  can  explain  why  a  mulatto  is 
not  a  white  man  with  Negro  blood  in  him,  rather  than  a  Negro 
with  white  blood  in  him?  If  this  is  perplexing,  what  of  the 
quadroon?  By  what  law  of  ethnology  is  he  classed  with  his 
African  ancestors  rather  than  his  Caucasian?  We  know 
through  Stroud  and  Blake  how  it  came  about,  but  who  can  tell 
why  it  is  continued?  Senator  Tillman  should  next  attack  it. 
The  quadroon  should  have  been  included  as  a  matter  of  exact 
justice.  This  absorption  and  authoritative  admission  of  the 


1  The  Supreme  Court  of  Georgia,  in  the  case  of  R.  W.  White  vs. 
W.  J.  Clements,  1872,  upheld  this  view,  and  in  effect  said,  everyone 
having  more  than  one-half  Caucasian  blood  was  entitled  to  be  classed 
as  such.  This  was  rendered  in  the  contest  for  the  clerkship  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Chatham  County,  White  being  a  quadroon. 

(393) 


394  Appendix  A. 


octoroon  on  the  white  side  of  the  line  indicates  a  lowering  of 
the  former  standard  held  to  be  correct  in  the  South  before  the 
War,  when  the  octoroons  were  sold  as  ruthlessly  as  were  the 
blacks  and,  in  the  case  of  a  female,  brought  fabulous  prices ;  in 
a  few  cases  as  high  as  $25,000.  In  Boucicault's  drama  and 
Miss  Braddon's  novel  of  the  "Octoroon,"  the  practice  in  the 
South  to  sell  octoroons  for  immoral  purposes  are  fully  set 
forth,  and  both  authors  are  sustained  by  a  hundred  narratives 
on  the  subject.  It  cannot  be  safely  affirmed  that  this  phase  of 
slavery,  coupled  as  it  was  in  many  instances  by  human  de 
pravity  almost  beyond  belief,  in  that  fathers  unblushingly  sold 
their  children,  products  of  their  intercourse  with  their  female 
slaves,  for  gain,  the  prospective  profit  being  the  animating  cause 
in  begetting  them.  This  did  more,  I  may  safely  say,  to  deter 
mine  the  Christian  people  of  the  country  to  do  all  in  their 
power  to  destroy  such  an  iniquitous  system,  a  system  that  made 
such  a  monstrous  thing  possible,  than  any  other  phase  of 
slavery  depicted  in  Mrs.  Stowe's  book,  and  really  caused  its 
overthrow.  I  recall  reading  of  a  particularly  brutal  exhibition 
of  this  kind  that  occurred  in  New  Orleans.  It  seems  a  young 
man  from  the  North  who  had  studied  medicine,  on  graduating 
went  to  New  Orleans  to  practise.  It  was  his  custom  in  the 
early  evening  to  take  a  stroll  in  the  public  park,  where  the 
mothers  and  nurses  were  gathered  with  the  children.  In  this 
way  he  became  acquainted  with  an  attractive  young  girl,  which 
continuing  for  some  time,  he  offered  his  hand,  was  accepted, 
and  the  two  were  married.  They  set  up  housekeeping  and  were 
getting  along  nicely,  he  being  very  devoted  to  her  and  she 
equally  loving.  They  had  been  married  not  more  than  seven 
months  when  a  gentleman  called  one  evening  and  asked  to 
speak  privately  with  the  doctor,  and  then  revealed  the  fact  that 
the  doctor's  wife  was  his  slave,  and  further  said,  unless  he  was 
given  thirty-five  hundred  dollars  immediately,  she  would  be 
advertised  and  sold.  The  doctor  loved  his  wife  and,  to  save 
her,  was  obliged  to  agree  to  the  harsh  terms.  He  then  gently 
upbraided  his  wife  for  not  telling  him  her  situation  when  he 
offered  to  marry  her,  whereupon  she  burst  into  tears  and  fell 
into  his  arms  saying :  "I  could  not,  though  I  wanted  to,  because 
my  heart  was  enlisted,  and,  further,  I  felt  that  the  gentleman 


Appendix  A.  395 


who  called  just  now  would  not  have  disturbed  me  when  he  saw 
me  so  happily  situated,  since  he  is  my  father!"  This  shows 
very  conclusively  the  folly  of  making  color  a  test  of  character. 
Southern  born  as  I  am,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  and  I 
believe  every  decent  man  will  agree  with  me,  I  would  ten  times 
rather  admit  to  all  the  amenities  of  my  home,  a  black  gentle 
man,  than  this  inhuman  brute  who  demanded  the  price  of  his 
daughter  under  the  threat  of  selling  her.  Could  any  decent  man 
hesitate  in  his  choice  under  such  circumstances  ?  Yet  there  are 
those  who  would  make  color  a  test  of  character. 

So  I  say,  this  authoritative  decision  to  include  all  octoroons 
in  the  white  column  is  a  distinct  gain  in  Southern  civilization. 
In  Jamacia  the  children  of  octoroons  are  classed  as  white.  It 
is  very  important,  since  now  Alexander  Poushkin,  Robt. 
Browning,  Empress  Josephine,  Lady  Nelson  (Lord  Nelson's 
wife),  Judah  P.  Benjamin,  Alex.  Hamilton,  and  Henry  Timrod 
(this  last  is  the  recognized  poet  of  the  South;  there  is  a  monu 
ment  to  his  memory  in  Charleston  and  numerous  Timrod  Socie 
ties  do  honor  to  his  name)  need  not  longer  share  their  glory 
with  those  of  the  African  race.  Another  step,  absorbing  quad 
roons,  and  the  race  will  lose  its  share  in  the  Alex.  Dumas,  Diego 
Silva  de  Velasquez,  Chevalier  St.  Georges,  Robert  de  Cabane, 
Cagliostro,  General  Rigaud,  General  Paez,  and  Alexander  de 
Medici,  1st  Duke  of  Florence,  and  many  other  world-famous 
characters. 

How  CHRISTOPHE,  KING  OF  HAITI,  SETTLED  THE 
COLOR-LINE. 

The  same  question,  as  to  the  social  status  of  the  different 
colors  that  now  perplex  the  people  of  the  United  States,  raged 
with  no  less  fierceness  in  Haiti  and  the  West  Indies  up  to  about 
1812  than  it  does  today  in  the  Southland.  All  through  the 
Santo  Domingo  Revolution,  in  addition  to  the  hostility  of  the 
French  under  Leclerc  and  Rochambeau,  there  was  constantly 
present  in  the  councils  of  the  natives  the  struggles  between  the 
colors  and  their  relations  to  each  other.  In  the  French  colonies 
there  was  no  mulatto  or  mixed-blood  slavery;  every  child  fol 
lowed  the  Roman  law  or  the  condition  of  the  father,  hence 


396  Appendix  A. 


there  were  three  classes, — whites,  composites,  and  blacks.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  while  African  slavery  began  in  June, 
1619,  mulatto  or  mixed-blood  slavery  in  the  United  States  did 
not  begin  until  1661,  and  thus  early  only  in  Virginia,  the  other 
States  not  adopting  it  until  a  much  later  period.  There  were 
a  large  number  of  mixed  breeds,  but  they  were  the  legitimate 
children  of  legitimate  marriage  between  the  races.  So  the 
mulattoes  did  not  have  their  origin,  as  some  in  their  ignorance 
believe,  in  the  illicit  relations  of  the  two  colors.  The  whole 
is  set  forth  in  detail  in  Blake's  "History  of  Slavery,"  and  in  the 
first  chapter  of  Straud's  "Laws  of  Slavery." 

As  previously  mentioned,  Haiti  and  San  Domingo  were 
torn  with  civil  dissensions  between  the  colors,  the  blacks, 
mulattoes,  and  whites,  and  for  more  than  ten  years  after  the 
French  invaders  had  been  expelled  from  the  islands  did  this 
question  of  caste  vex  and  divide  the  people.  Christophe,  to 
end  the  matter,  promulgated  his  famous  rule  in  which  he  de 
clared  that,  everybody  who  in  color  came  up  to  a  certain  stand 
ard,  which  he  fixed,  should  be  accounted  and  classed  as  white, 
and  all  who  fell  below  should  be  classed  as  black ;  and  as  King 
Christophe2  was  himself  black,  this  rule  was  accepted  by  the 
blacks,  who  were  the  most  numerous  element  in  the  islands, 
with  undisguised  equanimity.  This  solution  as  made  by  Chris 
tophe  of  the  vexatious  color-line  has  continued  until  today  in 
the  West  India  Islands. 

Before  the  War  of  1861-5,  in  many  of  the  large  Southern 
cities,  a  similar  division  among  the  colors,  blacks  and  com 
posites,  existed ;  notably  was  this  so  in  New  Orleans,  Charles 
ton,  Savannah,  Lynchburg,  and  Mobile,  and  a  little  less  in  other 
places. 

PURE  CAUCASIAN  CHILDREN  RAISED  AS  SLAVES. 

The  fact  that  octoroons  could  be  held  as  slaves  led  to  the 
enslavement  of  a  large  number  of  pure  Caucasians.  In  many 
instances  scandal  was  suppressed  in  wealthy  families  by  turn 
ing  over  the  unwelcome  child  to  a  bright-colored  slave  to  be 
reared  as  her  own.  The  grandfather,  when  financially  pressed, 

2  Christophe  was  an  officer  with  Rigaud,  of  Haiti,  and  assisted  the 
Americans  at  the  siege  of  Savannah  in  1777. 


Appendix  A.  397 


would  sell  the  child  with  as  little  remorse  as  was  occasioned  by 
selling  a  hog,  after  which  its  identity  was  usually  lost.  The 
writer  has  been  told  of  numerous  such  cases,  a  notable  one 
occurring  in  North  Carolina  in  1835.  In  the  narrative  of  Chas. 
Ball,  he  tells  how  the  instinct  of  maternal  affection  overcame 
shame  and  caused  a  white  mother  to  acknowledge  the  matern 
ity  of  a  boy  who  was  being  reared  as  a  quadroon  slave  in  the 
neighborhood.  It  seems  that  her  father  had  been  left  a  widower 
when  she  was  not  more  than  10  years  of  age.  On  the  planta 
tion  was  a  mulatto  woman  for  whom  her  father  had  shown 
no  little  partiality  during  his  wife's  life.  This  woman  had 
several  children,  one  a  very  handsome  boy,  her  master's  son, 
and  at  the  time  of  the  wife's  death,  about  12  years  old.  The 
widower  sent  his  daughter  to  a  boarding-school,  where  she 
remained  until  she  was  grown.  Returning,  she  installed  herself 
mistress  of  her  father's  house.  In  about  a  year  there  was  a 
hasty  family  council  to  devise  means  to  avoid  a  terrible  scandal, 
since  evidence  of  her  intimacy  with  her  half-brother  could  no 
longer  be  concealed.  Says  Ball,  "At  this  meeting  it  was  pro 
posed  to  send  the  girl  to  one  of  the  Northern  cities  until  after 
her  accouchement,  that  the  child  should  be  provided  for  in  some 
way,  and  the  mother  free  of  scandal  return  home  after  the 
restoration  of  her  health.  This  proposition  was  acceded  to  by 
all  except  the  paternal  uncle,  who  said  that  he  would  agree  to 
nothing  but  the  exposure  of  one  who  had  brought  such  infamy 
upon  the  reputation  of  the  family,  and  if  she  was  sent  away 
and  secreted  he  would  himself  divulge  the  whole  to  the  world, 
lest  it  should  be  imagined  that  he,  who  was  himself  the  father 
of  several  daughters,  had  given  any  countenance  to  so  base  an 
attempt  to  impose  upon  the  public.  It  seems  that  this  gentle 
man  assigned  as  an  excuse  for  his  cruelty  to  the  poor  girl,  a 
tenderness  of  the  good  name  of  his  own  family,  but  it  was  said 
by  many  that  the  hope  of  ruining  his  niece  and  forcing  her 
father  to  disinherit  her  in  favor  of  his  own  children  was  not 
without  weight  in  his  mind.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  girl  was 
kept  in  the  house  until  after  the  birth  of  her  child,  which  she 
was  not  permitted  to  nurse,  it  being  taken  from  her  and  sent 
to  the  kitchen  to  be  nurtured  by  its  paternal  grandmother,  the 
mulatto  head-servant.  The  mother  was  degraded  from  her 


398  Appendix  A. 


rank  in  society,  and  when  the  child  was  8  years  old  it  was  sold 
by  its  grandfather,  together  with  the  mulatto  woman  and  all 
her  children."  "It  .seems,"  says  Ball,  "that  the  father  of  the 
girl  was  induced  to  this  course  by  reason  of  his  desire  to  marry 
a  wealthy  widow  in  the  neighborhood,  who  discouraged  his  suit, 
and  pointed  to  the  bad  state  of  affairs  existing  in  his  domestic 
arrangements;  consequently  he  sought  to  improve  them  and 
make  himself  more  acceptable.  He  never  got  the  widow,  but 
was  soon  after  murdered  by  one  of  his  slaves,  a  negro  woman, 
in  revenge  for  having  sold  her  husband.  .  .  .  The  mur 
deress  accomplished  her  object  by  secreting  herself  in  his  cham 
ber  and  cutting  his  throat  with  a  carving  knife  as  he  lay  asleep 
in  a  room,  through  the  window  of  which  the  moon  shone, 
which  gave  sufficient  light  to  enable  her  to  complete  her  pur 
pose.  By  his  death,  his  whole  estate,  which  was  said  to  be  of 
great  value,  descended  to  his  daughter,  who  now  became  the 
mistress  of  the  entire  property.  She  immediately  took  meas 
ures  to  trace  out  the  identity  and  residence  of  her  son,"  to 
claim  whom  "she  journeyed  to  the  plantation  where  Ball  was 
working.  He  saw  her  when  she,  accompanied  by  the  master, 
got  the  boy  and  witnessed  the  frantic  joy  she  exhibited  as  she 
hugged  and  kissed  him  after  the  long  separation." 

So  it  is  clear  that  octoroons  were  not  always  classed  as 
white,  since  had  such  been  the  case  we  would  have  been  spared 
the  recital  of  the  brutal  cases  mentioned. 

THE  COMPOSITE. 

The  decision  of  the  Missouri  Court  in  1900,  that  a  mulatto 
is  not  a  Nego,  is  quite  appropriate  to  quote  in  this  connection. 
It  seems  that  a  white  man,  who  died  intestate  in  Missouri  about 
three  years  before,  left  considerable  property  to  which  a 
mulatto  man  laid  claim  as  the  son  of  the  deceased.  Other  rel 
atives  contested  his  right  on  the  grounds  that  the  plaintiff  was 
a  Negro  and  that  it  was  inconsistent  for  a  Negro  to  claim  to  be 
the  son  of  a  white  man.  The  court  overruled  this  contention 
and  said :  "The  plaintiff  is  not  a  Negro  nor  is  he  a  white  man, 
but  a  composite.  He  represented  the  beginning  of  a  new  race, 
since  all  new  races  are  formed  by  the  union  of  a  male  and 


Appendix  A.  \  399 


female  of  opposite  races.  The  diversity  of  races  came  about  in 
this  way  and  only  the  most  grossly  ignorant  would  hold  that 
there  was  a  separate  creation."  The  mulatto  lost  the  case  be 
cause  he  could  not  prove  that  the  deceased  was  his  father.  He 
testified  that  his  mother  had  always  told  him  so.  The  court 
ruled  that  her  testimony  unsupported  was  not  conclusive.  Had 
the  deceased  during  his  life  acknowledged  his  paternity  or  done 
anything,  such  as  supporting  him,  to  give  color  to  the  claim, 
he  would  have  unhesitatingly  given  him  the  property. 

The  old  idea  that  deterioration  followed  amalgamation  is 
not  now  urged  by  any  ethnologist  of  standing,  since  the  con 
trary  is  true.  That  the  Indian  and  the  Jew,  who  are  singularly 
pure  in  their  blood,  are  deteriorating  or  standing  still  must  be 
admitted  by  every  truthful  investigator.  There  are  some  strong 
reasons  to  justify  the  statement  that  there  are  fewer  Jews  in 
the  world  now  than  there  were  in  the  time  of  Christ,  nineteen 
hundred  years  ago.  The  mulatto  or  composite  race  now  num 
bers  in  the  United  States  about  two  million;  there  were  one 
million,  one  hundred  thousand  and  three  hundred  by  the  census 
of  1890,  the  growth  of  amalgamation  in  less  than  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  from  the  parent  stock  unreinforced  by  emigra 
tion.  The  Indians  have  stood  still ;  certainly  they  have  not  in 
creased  to  any  appreciable  extent.  Years  ago,  it  was  generally 
believed,  the  responsibility  for  such  belief  resting  upon  desire 
and  ignorance,  that  the  mulatto  was  a  hybrid  and  was  of  weak 
physique  and  doomed  to  die  out ;  and  some  in  their  zeal  were 
able  to -picture  the  thoughts  and  reflections  of  the  last  one,  like 
Macaulay's  New  Zealander  sitting  on  a  broken  arch  of  London 
Bridge  contemplating  the  decay  of  centuries.  But  they  are  not 
dying  out ;  indeed,  they  have  greater  stamina,  larger  families ; 
more  prolific  in  sexual  union,  greater  mental  power,  and  a 
larger  percentage  of  increase  than  either  the  white  man  or  the 
black  man.  But  why  were  not  these  facts  known  before? 
There  are  two  reasons, — first,  prejudice  against  all  the  Negroes 
and  all  his  kindred,  prejudice  which  has  been  defined  by  one, 
"as  opinions  received  without  examination.  A  second  ignor 
ance  engrafted  on  our  natural  ignorance.  A  person  armed  with 
old  views  or  opinions  which  without  examination  he  opposes 
to  the  new.  The  necessity  of  weak  minds,  the  art  of  false 


400  Appendix  A. 


ones."  Secondly,  lack  of  time  for  observation  and  testing  of 
theories.  It  was  fortunate  for  the  composite  race  that  these 
false  ideas  gained  currency,  otherwise  the  growth  of  the  race 
would  have  been  greatly  retarded.  No  one  it  seems  bothered 
himself  about  its  growth,  believing  it  would  cure  itself  and  die 
out. 

THE  LAW  ON  THE  SUBJECT. 

A  patient  and  exhaustive  search  of  the  statutes  concerning 
the  races  in  the  Southland  shows  that  there  was  ever  a  differ 
entiation  in  legal  language  between  Negro  and  mulatto;  every 
decision  being  held  that  a  mulatto  could  not  be  held  amenable 
under  a  statute  that  applied  only  to  Negroes,  and  to  meet  such 
cases  the  word  mulatto  was  invariably  inserted  so  as  to  make 
such  amenable.  The  most  authoritative  was  the  decision  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Louisiana,  April  29,  1910,  declaring  that  a 
mulatto  was  not  a  Negro.  The  Fourteenth  Amendment  pro 
hibits  any  State  from  using  such  a  designation  in  its  laws.  The 
Constitution  of  South  Carolina,  1896,  in  the  34th  section  reads : 

"The  marriage  of  white  persons  with  a  Negro  or  a  mulatto, 
or  person  who  shall  have  one-eighth  of  Negro  blood,  shall  be 
unlawful  and  void." 

To  this  provision,  while  under  consideration  in  the  Con 
stitutional  Convention,  Robt.  Smalls,  a  man  of  mixed  blood, 
proposed  an  amendment  adding  "Any  white  person  who  lives 
or  cohabits  with  a  Negro  or  mulatto,  or  person  who  shall  have 
one-eighth  or  more  of  Negro  blood,  shall  be  disqualified  from 
holding  any  office  of  emolument  or  trust  in  this  State."  .  .  . 
This  amendment  was  voted  down  by  a  larger  vote  than  was 
cast  on  any  other  proposition  brought  before  the  Convention. 
Mr.  Smalls,  in  the  course  of  a  speech  on  his  amendment,  made 
the  following  sharp  retort:  "If  a  Negro  should  improperly 
approach  a  white  woman  his  body  riddled  with  bullets  would 
be  hanging  on  the  nearest  tree  before  the  next  morning,  but 
if  my  amendment  should  prevail  and  all  white  men  who  cohabit 
with  Negro  women  be  disqualified,  this  Convention  would  have 
to  be  adjourned  sine  die  for  lack  of  a  quorum."  A  member 
called  Smalls  to  order,  saying  that  he  had  cast  a  reflection  on 
the  Convention.  To  this  Smalls  replied:  "I  do  not  wish  to 


Appendix  A.  401 


reflect  on  the  Convention  but  to  say,  if  the  gentleman  has  clean 
hands  he  will  keep  his  seat.  I  do  not  mean  to  reflect  on  any 
man  who  objects  to  cohabiting  with  a  Negro  or  mulatto 
woman." 

SOCIAL  EQUALITY. 

Having  unusual  opportunities  to  talk  with  most  cultured 
colored  people  from  every  part  of  the  United  States,  I  find 
this  sentiment  unanimous.  All  social  associations  must  be 
mutually  agreeable  and  cannot  in  the  nature  of  things  transcend 
this  line.  When  it  is  agreeable  to  all  concerned  there  can  be 
no  legitimate  grounds  of  offense  to  anyone.  A  man  who  has 
nothing  else  to  recommend  him  save  his  color  would  not  be 
an  acceptable  guest  at  any  gentleman's  table,  and  one  who  has 
everything  else  should  not  be  excluded.  General  George  Wash 
ington  slept  in  bed  with  Primus  Hall,  a  young  mulatto  valet 
of  Col.  Pickering  (see  "Godey's  Lady's  Book,"  1849) ;  Thos. 
Jefferson  had  Mr.  Julius  Melbourn  at  dinner  in  1815;  his  other 
guests  were  James  Monroe  (afterward  President)  ;  Wm.  Wirt, 
John  Randolph,  Mr.  Edmund  Pendleton,  who  introduced  Mr. 
Melbourn,  whose  status  was  sympathetically  discussed  during 
the  dinner  party. 

It  may  not  be  wholly  profitless,  though  not  strictly  perti 
nent  to  this  inquiry,  to  refer  to  some  conditions  existing  in 
the  States  in  the  early  part  of  the  century:  From  the  Hon. 
Thomas  E.  Millner,  of  South  Carolina,  I  learn  that  in  the 
Southern  States,  in  the  early  days  of  the  19th  century,3  every 
man  having  less  than  one-eighth  of  African  blood,  provided 
that  eighth  came  from  the  father,  was  entitled  to  all  the  privi 
leges  of  citizenship  accorded  to  the  most  favored,  including 
the  right  to  vote,  and  that  this  rule  continued  until  1831,  the 
year  of  thef  Nat  Turner  insurrection.  A  more  liberal  rule 
obtained  in  North  Carolina  and  Maryland.  In  New  York  all 
free  colored  men  were  entitled  to  vote  without  other  qualifica 
tions,  but  after  New  York  abolished  slavery,  which  it  did  on 
July  4,  1827,  and  thereby  largely  increased  the  number  of  its 


3 Judge  McCay,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Georgia,  said:  "There 
never  has  been  in  this  State,  at  any  period  of  its  history,  any  denial 
in  terms  of  the  right  to  vote  and  hold  office  to  colored  persons  as  such." 


20 


402  Appeiidix  A. 


free  inhabitants,  it  was  urged  by  Mr.  Van  Buren,  and  ulti 
mately  adopted,  that  some  restriction  should  be  placed  on  the 
suffrage  of  colored  men,  and  after  that  period  a  property  quali 
fication  of  $250  was  required,  and  all  colored  men  having  said 
qualification  were  able  to  vote  in  New  York  State  up  to  the 
adoption  of  the  Fifteenth  Amendment,  when  such  qualification 
was  not  longer  required.  When  the  property  qualification  of 
Van  Buren  was  established  the  Hon.  Gerritt  Smith  bought  fifty 
thousand  acres  of  land  in  New  York  and  gave  to  each  colored 
family,  selected  by  a  committee,  fifty  acres  to  enable  them  to 
qualify  under  the  law.  In  Ohio  in  1860,  by  a  decision  of  its 
Supreme  Court  in  Anderson's  case,  every  man  having  less  than 
one-half  African  blood  was  declared  entitled  to  all  and  every 
privilege  accorded  white  men  and  not  subject  to  any  other 
pains  and  penalties. 

In  Rhode  Island  a  property  qualification  was  required  of 
all  save  free  colored  citizens,  and  under  this  law  a  large  num 
ber  of  whites  voted,  not  otherwise  qualified,  by  claiming  to  be 
of  African  descent,  and  so  flagrant  were  the  frauds  practised 
through  white  men  to  enable  them  to  vote,  claiming  to  be  octo 
roons,  that  the  legislature  was  petitioned  and  repealed  the  ex 
ception  in  favor  of  colored!  men.  These  historical  facts  in 
regard  to  the  suffrage  are  quite  pertinent  at  this  time,  as  show 
ing  the  attitude  of  the  South  and  North  in  former  times  in 
dealing  with  this  color-line,  and  should  be  remembered,  since 
they  cannot  but  have  an  important  bearing  when  the  subject 
of  Negro  suffrage  is  under  consideration  in  any  form. 

DANIEL  MURRAY, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

April  20,  1915. 


APPENDIX  B. 

PARALLELISMS   AND    DISPARITIES    IN    THE    CONDITION 

OF  THE  ANCIENT  HEBREW  IN  EGYPT  AND  THE 

MODERN  NEGRO  IN  AMERICA. 

IT  is  more  than  an  idle  fancy  that  compares  the  colored 
people  in  the  United  States  with  the  Children  of  Israel  in 
Egypt.  There  are  many  resemblances,  but  more  differences. 
The  untrained  mind,  however,  dwells  more  readily  upon  re 
semblances  than  differences,  and  most  minds  are  untrained; 
therefore  the  similarities  of  situations  have  received  more  at 
tention  than  the  differences. 

Let  us  examine  critically  this  oft-quoted,  but  superficial 
and  misunderstood  similitude : — 

1.  The  Israelites  were  voluntary  immigrants  into  Egypt. 
They  enjoyed  not  only  freedom  but  privilege  and  honor.    They 
were  finally  reduced  to  a  form  of  slavery  through  ethnic  jeal 
ousy  and  national  proscription. 

2.  Deliverance  came  through  the  efforts  of  an  educated, 
trained,  and  consecrated  leader  of  their  own  blood. 

3.  They  left  the  land  of  their  degradation  and  the  presence 
of  their  oppressors. 

4.  They  started  for  a  definite  place  with  a  definite  object  in 
view,  namely,  to  realize  the  promise  that  they  were  toi  become 
a  great  and  numerous  people. 

5.  They  had  no  desire  to  be  like  anybody  else,  but  gloried 
in  the  fact  that  they  were  to  be  a  peculiar  people. 

6.  The  Israelites  were  not  chattel  slaves  in  Egypt  as  were 
the  Negroes  in  America,  and  did  not  live  with  the  Egyptians 
as  servants. 

The  district  of  Gosheni  (frontier),  also  called  the  land  of 
Rameses  (Gen.  47:  2),  where  the  Israelites  were  settled  during 
the  period  of  their  sojourn  in  the  land'  of  the  Pharaohs,  was 
the  most  easterly  border-land  of  Egypt.  It  was  scarcely  in 
cluded  in  the  boundaries  of  Egypt  proper,  and  was  inhabited 
by  a  mixed  population  of  Egyptians  and  foreigners.  (Exod. 
12:38.) 

(403) 


404  Appendix  B. 


They  were  a  pastoral  people,  independent  and  prosperous, 
whose  growing  strength  in  the  minds  of  Egyptian  statesmen 
became  a  menance  to  the  supremacy  of  the  Pharaohs. 

On  the  other  hand, — 

1.  The  Negroes  were  involuntary  captives  brought  to  this 
country  by  force  and  were  compelled  from  the  start  to  labor 
without  reward  under  the  eye  and  lash  of  the  master  whose 
absolute  property  they  were.    No  segregation  then. 

2.  Manumission  came  through  extraneous  sources,  chang 
ing  ideals  and  conditions  of  the  masters  rather  than  struggles 
of  the  slaves — yet  the  fugitive  slave  from  the  South  helped  pro 
duce  the  abolitionist  of  the  North. 

3.  The  Negro  remained  with  his  former  owner  and  faced 
at  close  range  the  horrors  of  reconstruction. 

4.  The  Negro  had  an  intense  longing  for  freedom,  but  no 
definite  object  in  view. 

5.  At  Emancipation  the  Negro  had  lost  whatever  of  racial 
consciousness   he  had  brought  with  him  into  captivity.     A 
puerile  and  disastrous  desire  to  be  "like  de  white  folks"  had 
completely  displaced  the  tribal  ego. 

6.  The  forty  years  in  the  Wilderness  under  Moses  welded 
the  heterogeneous  horde  of  fugitives  into  a  compact  nation,  but 
after  fifty  years  there  is  no  Negro  Race  in  the  United  States 
today — only  a  similarly  conditioned  people  of  varied  but  cog 
nate  physical  contour. 

These  are  great  and  fundamental  differences  that  must  be 
considered  in  drawing  conclusions  if  our  findings  are  to  be  of 
any  value. 

There  are,  however,  some  undoubted  and  striking  similari 
ties  : — 

1.  Their  numbers  increased  the  prejudice  against  them. 

2.  Their  prosperity  and  industry  brought  on  opposition  and 
discrimination;  in  fact,  decency  and  aspiration  were  more  re 
sented  than  ignorance  and  criminality.     (To  illustrate, — white 
people  do  not  object  to  Negroes  living  in  poor  houses,  etc.    The 
great  segregation  move  is  against  the  Negroes  seeking  modern 
homes — Baltimore. ) 

3.  The    same    excuse    was    made    for    injustice    practised 


Appendix  B.  405 


against  them.    The  Egyptian  equivalent  of  "Nigger  Domina 
tion'  '  was  worked  for  all  it  was  worth. 

4.  They  learned  the  virtues  and  vices  of  their  oppressors. 
Their  intellectual  horizon  was  widened  and  their  moral  strength 
weakened  by  this  contact.     (The  only  crime  for  which  organ 
ized  society  has  been  willing  to  risk  its  existence  by  condoning 
lynching  is  a  vice  of  civilization  unknown  alike  to>  the  red 
savages  of  America  and  the  black  savages  of  Africa.) 

5.  They  "increased  and  multiplied"  despite  oppression. 

6.  Their  lot  was  made  harder  by  internal  strife  and  treach 
ery.    It  was  not  Egyptian  injustice  and  oppression,  but  Hebrew 
ingratitude  and  treachery  that  made  Moses  a  fugitive.     The 
petty  jealousies!  and  tale-bearings  of  fellow-slaves  were  often 
more  burdensome  and  galling  than  the  lash  of  the  master  dur 
ing  those  "agonizing,  cruel  slavery  days." 

Tales  of  "nigger  risings,"  with  all  theii4  attendant  horrors 
and  barbarities,  usually  had  such  incipiency.  Unfortunately 
for  us,  this,  tribe  is  not  yet  extinct;  for  we  have  no  "secret 
orders'*  nor  "sacred  conclaves."  One  may  find  out  on  the 
streets  any  day  the  doings  of  any  Negro  lodge  the  previous 
night. 

7.  Their  progress  was  hindered  by  their  tendency  to  take 
the  advice  of  the  ignorant  rather  than  that  of  the  wise  among 
them.     While  Moses  was  up  in  the  mountain  his  followers 
made  a  golden  calf.    The  Negro  has  had  a  hard  time  to  over 
come  his  fondness  for  the  counsel  of  ignorant  preachers,  hoo 
doo  doctors,  and  barber-shop  lawyers.     Less  than  three  years 
ago  I  had  an  apparently  intelligent  colored  man  reject  my 
advice  inj  the  treatment  of  a  sorei  eye  and  accept  that  of  a 
blacksmith. 

The  "mixed  multitude"  was  a  disturbing  factor.  How 
much  better  it  would  have  been  for  the  f reedmen  had  the  carpet 
bagger  not  been  born!  (This  opprobrious  epithet  applies  not 
to  the  religious  missionaries  who  came  in  the  wake  of  the 
Union  Army  with  a  spelling  book  in  one  hand  and  a  Bible  in 
the  other.  Their1  feet  were  shod  with  "the  preparation  of  the 
Gospel  of  peace."  This  holy  band,  comparable  only  to  the 
ante-bellum  Southern  abolitionists,  is  now  almost  gone.) 


APPENDIX  C 

CRUELTY  is  not  choice  of  victims,  and  slavery  comes  by 
power  and  opportunity  and  not  by  color. 

In  the  year  1852  there  was  published  "for  the  author,"  in 
the  city  of  Philadelphia,  by  Crissy  and  Markley,  a  book,  "The 
North  and  South,  or  Slavery  and  Its  Contrasts,"  in  which  it 
was  claimed  that  "Mrs.  Stowe's  book  is  an  unjust  and  unfaith 
ful  picture  of  Southern  life  and  characters."  Warning  the 
"wonder-working  abolitionists  that  justice,  as  well  as  charity, 
begins  at  home,"  and  upbraiding  them  for  failure  to  "sym 
pathize  with  the  slavery  of  the  North,"  the  author  asks  :— 

"Do  we  have  no  cruel  whippings,  no  torture,  no  forcing  the 
poor  overburdened  frame  to  labor  beyond  its  capabilities  ?  In 
a  word,  oh !  free  and  happy  citizens  of  the  North,  have  you  no 
slaves  in  your  midst  ?" 

He  continues: — 

"I  should  like  to  draw  upon  the  memory  of  the  public  a 
little,  and  see  if  they  can,  recall  one  case  which  a  short  time 
ago  appeared  in  most  of  our  Northen  papers,  where  a  so-called 
lady  whipped  severely  a  little  bound  girl  she  had  living  with 
her,  and  then,  after  the  whipping,  shut  her  up  in  a  room  at  the 
top  of  the  house  for  many  days  without  food,  and  when  at  last 
she  was  released  with  life  just  remaining  in  her,  she  died  in  a 
few  hours  of  starvation.  What  was  this  but  murder,  and  yet 
the  monster  who  perpetrated  it  was  never  brought  to  justice. 
The  story  was  hushed  up,  and  the  rich  lady  is  at  liberty  to 
commit  as  many  more  murders  as  suits  her  convenience." 

Further  along  he  quotes  an  editorial  correspondent  to  show : 
"The  deplorable  effects  of  ill-timed  and  ill-advised  emancipa 
tion  in  Jamacia,  Antigua,  and  the  Mauritius  Islands,  was  such, 
the  Earl  of  Derby  himself  declares,  that  the  blacks  were  rapidly 
relapsing  into  a  state  of  barbarism.  Were  our  mock  philan 
thropists  here  to  have  their  own  way,  what  a  wretched  con 
dition  would  they  eventually  sink  our  black  population  to!" 

The  following  story  is  one  of  his  illustrations  of  the  fierce 
cruelty  of  the  bond  slavery  of  the  North. 
(406) 


Appendix  C.  407 


"You  remember  that  I  was  sent  to  the  country  to  learn 
farming.  I  was  bound  to  Mr.  Hardgripe  till  I  was  of  age,  and 
you  were  no  doubt  satisfied  that  I  was  in  comfortable  quarters. 
I  had  not  forgotten,  my  dear  mother,  our  happy  home  in  New 
York,  and  all  the  endearing  recollections  of  my  boyhood.  If 
I  had  never  known  them  it  would  have  been  better  for  me, 
for  I  would  then  perhaps  have  learned  to  submit  to  indignities 
that  galled  my  proud  nature.  As  to  hard  work,  I  did  not  mind 
that;  I  liked  to  be  busy  about  something,  and  I  cared  little 
what,  but  I  did  dislike  the  cruel  taunts  I  received  about  eating 
the  bread  of  charity,  and  about  my  family,  who  were  starving 
for  bread  in  the  city.  I  was  forced  to  put  up  with  every  kind 
of  insult,  and  was,  indeed,  the  scapegoat  of  the  family.  Each 
one  felt  entitled  to  give  me  a  kick  or  blow,  and  no  one  ever 
thought  of  giving  me  a  kind  word.  Thus  it  was  that  a  disposi 
tion,  naturally  buoyant  and  merry,  became  moody  and  sensitive, 
and  when  I  sat  in  the  chimney  corner  in  the  kitchen,  looking 
into  the  blaze,  and  trying  to  figure  out  my  future  life,  some 
body  would  be  sure  to  kick  me  out,  and  tell  me  to  go  split  wood 
or  fetch  water,  or  do  something  besides  looking  into  the  fire  so 
sulky.  No  doubt  I  seemed  to  them  to  be  in  the  sulks,  but  I  was 
not,  mother.  I  was  only  trying  to  feel  happy  within  myself, 
you  know.  Mr.  Hardgripe  has  a  daughter  just  my  own  age; 
a  very  pretty  girl,  but  a  very  proud  and  selfish  one.  From  the 
very  first  hour  that  I  went  beneath  their  roof,  this  young  girl 
took  every  opportunity  to  make  me  feel  the  difference  in  our 
positions.  She  ordered  me  about  in  the  most  dictatorial  man 
ner,  and  if  I  did  not  move  quickly  enough  to  please  her,  she 
would  slap  me  or  kick  me  as  if  I  had  been  a  dog,  and  woe  be 
to  me  if  I  dared  to  complain,  or  say  one  word  in  my  own  de 
fense;  the  whole  house  would  rise  up  against  me;  the  father 
would  appear  with  a  cow-hide,  the  mother  with  the  tongs,  and 
the  brother  with  a  heavy  walking  stick,  and  I  would  be  fairly 
chased  out  of  the  house,  and  forced  to  take  up  my  quarters 
in  the  stable. 

"While  the  warm  weather  lasted,  and  I  had  work  to  do  in 
the  open  fields,  I  was  comparatively  happy,  for  I  worked  so 
hard  there  was  no  time  to  quarrel  with  me,  till  I  went  home 
to  my  supper,  which  was  never1  made  up  of  anything  beyond 


408  Appendix  C. 


salt  meat  and  brown  bread.  However,  I  had  a  good  appetite, 
and  relished  it,  simple  as  it  was.  When  I  had  performed  all 
that  was  required  of  me  about  the  house,  I  retired  to  bed  in 
the  garret,  and  slept  as  soundly,  I  am  sure,  as  did  my  mistress 
or  her  pretty  daughter. 

"But  as  I  grew  older  the  kicks  and  cuffs  I  received  began 
to  awaken  in  my  mind  feelings  of  revenge  and  retaliation.  My 
spirit  rebelled  against  the  indignity  with  which  I  was  treated, 
and  I  not  infrequently  spoke  freely  in  my  own  defense,  but, 
alas !  I  soon  found  I  was  riveting  my  own  chains.  However, 
the  spirit  of  opposition  was  aroused  within  me,  and  I  deter 
mined  to  fight  it  out  to  the  end. 

"A  constant  warfare  was  the  consequence  of  my  resolution 
to  assert  my  rights,  and  the  very  first  time  that  I  received  a 
kick  from  Miss  Jane,  I  kicked  back.  She  ran  screaming  to  her 
mother,  and  I  made  good  my  retreat,  and  ran  out  the  back  way, 
and  across  the  fields  till  I  reached  a  patch  of  woods,  about  a 
half-mile  distant  from  the  house.  There  Mr.  Hardgripe  and 
two  of  his  men  found  me.  He  seized  me  by  the  hand  and  led 
me  away  to  the  open  field,  muttering  as  he  went,  and  grinding 
his  teeth  together ;  I  could  hear  him  say,  'What  shall  I  do  with 
this  little  wretch,  that  kicked  my  daughter?  How  shall  I 
punish  him;  how  shall  I  hurt  him  enough?' 

"Mr.  Hardgripe  led  me  with  long  strides  to  the  foot  of  a 
tree.  He  ordered  me  to  undress.  I  did  so.  He  told  the  men 
to  tie  me  up  to  a  limb  of  the  tree  with  some  strong  cords  they 
had  brought  with  them.  This  they  soon  accomplished,  and 
then  I  felt  the  hard,  heavy  blows  of  the  cow-hide,  cutting  and 
bruising'  my  flesh,  and  seeming  to  be  grinding  my  bones  to 
powder.  I  held  out  as  long  as  I  could,  but  at  last  I  begged  for 
mercy.  I  implored  his  pity ;  but  still  the  blows  descended,  and 
at  each  repetition  laid  open  the  quivering  flesh.  In  the  midst 
of  this  agony,  consciousness  forsook  me,  and  I  knew  not  what 
happened  for  hours  afterward. 

When,  however,  I  at  last  opened  my  eyes,  I  found  I  was 
laid  in  my  own  garret,  but  there  was  no  one  near  me.  I  felt 
an  intense  burning  thirst.  There  was  no  water  at  hand.  I 
tried  to  rise  from  the  bed,  but  my  bruised  and  mangled  body 
would  not  permit.  I  writhed  in  agony,  and  in  that  hour  I  re- 


Appendix  C.  409 


membered  the  prayer  you  had  taught  me, — oh,  my  mother! 
I  remembered  that  you  had  told  me  there  was  a  God  who  was 
a  friend  to  the  friendless  and  the  destitute,  and  was  I  not 
friendless  indeed?  I  called  upon  His  name  so  long  forgotten, 
and  prayed  that  He  would  help  me  in  this  hour  of  sore  distress. 
But  my  help  was  not  yet.  I  heard  a  noise  on  the  stairs,  of  a 
heavy  step  ascending.  The  next  moment  Mr.  Hardgripe  en 
tered  the  room.  He  held  a  lemon  in  his  hand,  cut  in  two.  For 
what  purpose  he  had  brought  it,  I  soon  learned.  He  turned  me 
over  on  my  side  and,  with  a  malicious  leer  on  his  face,  he 
squeezed  the  juice  into  the  open  cuts  on  my  back.  Oh,  God! 
Oh,  my  mother,  can  you  imagine  the  torture  he  inflicted  upon 
me  ?  I  felt  the  cold  shivering  of  agonized  despair  run  over  me. 
I  implored  him  to  have  mercy  upon  me,  as  he  hoped  for  mercy 
from  God ;  but,  no,  he  pursued  his  purpose  till  he  had  satisfied 
himself,  and  then  left  me,  deaf  to  my  cries  for  water,  deaf  to 
everything  but  the  cruel  promptings  of  his  iron-like  heart. 

"Hours  rolled  by :  such  long,  such  weary  hours.  I  thought 
of  you  and  my  sweet  sister  Gazella,  and  thought  how  glad  you 
would  have  been  to  dress  my  wounds,  and  allay  my  maddening 
thirst.  The  peaked  roof  of  the  garret  only  threw  back  the  echo 
of  my  own  voice.  Night  came  on,  and  still  the  fever  burned 
in  my  veins,  and  my  body  increased  in  soreness.  At  last  the 
men  came  up  to  bed.  I  implored  them  to  get  me  somei  water. 
They  brought  it,  and  I  drank  a  long,  refreshing  draught.  It 
cooled  me  and  brought  me  comparative  ease,  but  I  was  still 
suffering  too  much  to  sleep.  I  laid  awake  till  near  daylight, 
looking  through  the  little  dormer  window  at  the  beautiful  stars, 
and  the  soft,  bright  moon,  that  lit  every  portion  of  my  garret. 
Hope  awoke  within  me.  I  knew  that  the  world  was  wide ;  that 
all  men  were  not  tyrants.  I  resolved  to  run  away  and,  while 
planning  the  how  and  the  when,  I  fell  asleep." 


APPENDIX  D. 

THAT  the  feeling  which  leads  the  Negro  to  protest  against 
the  misrepresentation  of  his  people  in  literature  and  the  drama 
is  not  limited  to  the  Negro,  is  shown  by  the  following  editorial : 

SHYLOCK  AND  CHILDHOOD. 

In  the  current  issue  of  the  Nashville  Young  Men's  Hebrew 
Association  News  an  article  appears  urging  that  "The  Merchant 
of  Venice"  be  not  included  in  the  course  of  study  in  the  High 
School.  Admittedly  one  of  Shakespeare's  masterpieces  from 
a  literary  standpoint,  the  argument  is  made  that  its  reading 
produces  in  the  mind  of  the  young  child  a  deep-seated  prejudice 
against  his  Jewish  classmate,  Shylock  being  accepted  as  the 
type  of  all  Jews.  The  Jewish  child,  the  article  continues,  "sits 
in  his  class  embarrassed  and  cowed,  his  cheeks  tingling  with 
the  blush  of  humiliation  and  shame,  powerless  to  say  or  do 
aught  for  his  own  relief." 

All  of  us  know  that  a  desire  to  take  human  blood  in  lieu 
of  money  due  is  not  characteristic  of  the  Jews.  In  "The  Mer 
chant  of  Venice"  the  money-lender  is  what  the  persecutions 
and  the  heartlessness  of  his  Christian  neighbors  have  made 
him.  He  demands  his  pound  of  flesh  not  because  he  is  a  Jew, 
but  because  hei  is  a  human  being  who  has  suffered  and  .seeks 
revenge.  "The  Merchant  of  Venice"  is  not  less  an  indictment 
against  the  uncharity  of  a  community  professedly  Christian 
than  against  avarice.  "But,"  says  the  article  in  the  Young 
Men's  Hebrew  Association  News,  "the  unformed  and  untrained 
mind  of  the  child  does  not  see  these  things  and  cannot  over 
come  the  impression  which  this  play  produces." 

We  would  be  inclined,  to  think  that  the  teacher,  if  she  ex 
plained  the  play  as  the  class  read  it,  might  obviate  these  evils. 
There  must  always  be  the  danger,  however,  of  having  children 
fall  into  the  hands  of  teachers  who  might  not  have  the  tact  to 
explain  properly.  There  is  the  possibility,  as  mentioned  in 
the  article,  that  nothing  the  teacher  could  say  would  weigh  with 
the  child  against  what  he  conceives  Shakespeare  to  mean. 
(410) 


Appendix  D.  411 


Certainly  the  Jewish  child  should  not  be  humiliated  in  the 
schools.  Certainly  the  Gentile  child  should  not  be  given  a  false 
impression.  Possibly  "The  Merchant  of  Venice"  does  not  pro 
duce  so  much  of  an  evil  effect  as  some  are  disposed  to  think  it 
does,  but  if  the  Jewish  people  think  it  does  there  is  justification 
for  eliminating  it  from  the  course  of  study.  "If  meat  maketh 
my  brother  to  offend,  I  will  eat  no  meat,"  declared  the  Chris 
tian,  Paul.  That  is  good  Christianity  now. 

Anyway  there  are  enough  of  the  great  Shakespearean  plays 
adapted  to  use  in  High  Schools  that  no  injury  would  be  done 
the  literary  balance  of  things  by  eliminating  "The  Merchant 
of  Venice."  (Editorial,  Tennessean  and  American,  April  8, 
1915.) 


APPENDIX  E. 

THE  growing  liberality  of  the  Southern  press  is  indicated 
by  the  appearance  of  the  following  communication  in  a  recent 
issue  of  the  leading  morning  paper  of  Middle  Tennessee,  under 
the  general  heading,  "Editorials  by  Our  Readers" : — 

THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  CRIME:  AN  APPEAL. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  Tennessean  and  American: — 

The  problem  of  democracy  is  to  preserve  and  promote  the 
general  welfare  with  the  least  possible  curtailment  of  the  liberty 
of  the  individual.  This  ideal  can  be  realized  only  when  the 
individual  is  self-governing.  Anything  therefore  that  tends 
to  make  the  individual  considerate,  fair-minded,  and  just  is  a 
direct  contribution  to  the  welfare  of  our  country.  On  the  other 
hand,  anything  that  tends  to  personal  irresponsibility  and 
individual  injustice  is  against  the  general  welfare.  The  soul 
of  democracy  is  surrendered  when  the  ignorant  or  vicious  gain 
control. 

America  is  the  most  criminal  of  civilized  nations,  and  the 
colored  people  contribute  much  more  than  their  share  to  this 
awful  record.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  promote  the 
general  welfare  by  lessening  crime.  Even-handed  justice  is 
the  surest  road  to  this  desirable  goal.  A  sense  of  injustice  is 
an  incentive  to  crime,  and  suggestion  plays  an  important  part  in 
our  criminal  record.  Here  is  where  the!  "liberty  of1  an  un 
licensed  press"  becomes  a  factor  in  the  psychology  of  crime. 

Two  items  in  Sunday's  edition  of  your  paper  will  illustrate 
my  meaning. 

One  reported  the  death  penalty  for  a  brutal  crime,  but  was 
so  worded  that  force  and  brevity  were  both  sacrificed  to  give 
the  item  a  racial  tinge. 

The  other  reported  a  case  of  highway  robbery  and  men 
tioned  the  word  "Negro"  (with  a  small  "n")  nine  times  in  an 
article  nine  inches  long.     This  type  of  journalism  increases 
crime  in  three  ways : — 
(412) 


Appendix  E.  413 


1.  Along  the   borderline   of    crime   and   respectability,   it 
enables  the  criminally  inclined  Negro  to  bully  his  law-abiding 
neighbor  by  showing  the  latter  that  he  gets  no  credit  for  his 
goodness. 

2.  It  makes  the  Negro  criminal  believe  there  is  little  danger 
of  punishment  if  he  but  confine  his  crimes  to  his  own  race. 

3.  The  white  criminal  is  given  letters  of  marque  against 
the  Negro  race. 

On  behalf  of  the  respectable,  law-abiding  Negroes  of  this 
city,  I  appeal  to  the  great  morning  paper  of  the  Athens  of  the 
South  to  set  the  noble  and  democratic  example  of  not  mention 
ing  the  race  or  religion  of  a  criminal  in  giving  criminal  news. 

C.  V.  ROMAN, 
1303  Church  St. 

January  22,  1915. 


APPENDIX  F. 

THESE  articles  from  The  Medical  World  show  several 
things,  among  which  we  call  attention  to  the  following:  (a) 
There  is  aj  class  of  people  who  desire  "to  keep  down"  the 
colored  people,  (b)  This  class  is  not  any  more  liberally  en 
dowed  intellectually  than  morally,  (c)  The  sentiment  of  "keep 
ing  down"  is  not  unanimous,  (d)  A  colored  physician's  views. 

WANTS  TO  KEEP  NEGRO  PHYSICIANS  DOWN  ! 

Dr.  C.  F.  Taylor,  Ed.  of  The  Med.  World. 

DEAR  SIR: — What  is  the  negro  physician  doing  as  a  whole 
through  out  the  country  as  a  physician  and  surgeon  ?  What  are 
they  doing  financialy?  How  do  they  compare  with  the  white 
aplicants  in  State  examinations  through  out  the  country?  I 
notice  in  some  places  they  seams  to  be  makeing  more  money 
then  the  white  physicians.  What  is  the  best  thing  we  can  do  to 
keep  him  down?  Please  let  me  here  from  you  in  the  nex 
No.  of  the  World  Yours  Truly,—.  — .  . 

[The  above  comes  from  a  Southern  State,  but  we  venture 
the  opinion  that  it  does  not  voice  the  sentiment  of  Southern 
medical  men.  We  print  the  above  letter  exactly  as  received. 
It  does  not  show  high  literary  attainments.  In  some  States 
there  are  Negro  State  medical  associations,  and  there  is  a 
"National  Medical  Association,"  composed  of  Negro  physi 
cians,  and  this  National  Association  publishes  a  very  creditable 
journal  at  1303  Church  St.,  Nashhville,  Tenn.  It  is  entirely 
proper  that  there  should  be  Negro  physicians,  educated  to  care 
for  their  race.  '  We  understand  that  they  are  making  very 
commendable  progress.  We  congratulate  them,  and  bid  them 
godspeed.  If  we  have  any  Negro  subscribers,  and  we  suppose 
we  have,  we  invite  them  to  give  a  more  full  reply  to  the  above 
letter  than  we  can  do  offhand — for  example,  statistics  concern 
ing  numbers,  the  degree  of  prosperity  which  they  achieve,  what 
record  they  have  made  before  State  examining  boards, 
etc.— ED.] 

[The  Medical  World,  February,  1914.] 
(414) 


Appendix  F.  415 


STATUS  OF  THE  NEGRO  IN  MEDICINE. 

EDITOR  MEDICAL  WORLD: — As  a  reader  of  your  valuable 
journal  I  wish  to  say  something  of  the  letter  in  the  February 
World  about  the  Negro  physician  and  surgeon. 

1.  The  writer  asks  how  is  the  Negro  physician  and  surgeon 
succeeding  professionally;  that  is,  is  he  curing  his  patients? 

2.  What  is  the  Negro  doctor  doing  financially? 

3.  How  do  the  Negro  applicants  for  medical  license  before 
the  various  State  boards  compare  with  white  applicants  ? 

4.  "I  notice,"  says  the  writer,  "in  some  places  they  seams  to 
be  makeing  more  money  than  the  white  physicians."    This  he 
regards  as  a  menace  and  asks  you  to  tell  him  in  "the  nex  No. 
of  the  World  what  is  the  best  thing  we  can  do  to  keep  him 
down?" 

Ignoring  the  spirit  displayed  under  heading  IV,  which 
would  exclude  the  inquirer  from  the  information  sought  on  the 
ground  of  impure  motives,  I  will  attempt  to  answer  in  detail 
his  inquiries: — 

I. 

Professionally,  the  Negro  doctor  is  a  success.  He  has  a 
reasonable  grasp  on  the  principles  of  medicine  and  surgery  and 
is  able  to  apply  those  principles  to  the  healing  of  the)  sick  and 
the  prevention  of  disease. 

Comparative  statistics  show1  that  the  mortality  rate  in  hos 
pitals  conducted  by  Negro  physicians  is  not  excessively  high, 
and  the  percentage  of  cures  is  up  to  the  average.  I  am  familiar 
with  the  workings  of  two  large  colored  hospitals,  the  George 
W.  Hubbard  Hospital,  in  Nashville,  and  Andrew  Memorial,  in 
Tuskegee.  I  have  known  long  series  of  major  operations  in 
these  hospitals  without  a  death.  I  have  reliable  information 
that  the  same  is  true  of  the  Frederick  Douglass  and  Mercy 
Hospitals  in  Philadelphia;  Freedman's  Hospital,  Washington, 
D.  C. ;  Lincoln  Hospital,  Durham,  N.  C. ;  Fair  Haven  In 
firmary,  Atlanta,  Ga.,  and  Leonard  Hospital,  in  Raleigh,  N.  C., 
to  say  nothing  of  the  numerous  private  hospitals  and  infirm 
aries  run  by  colored  men. 


416  Appendix  F. 


The  colored  physicians,  are  liked  by  their  clientele  and  are 
usually  on  good  terms  with  each  other  and  with  the  white 
physicians. 

There  are  State  societies  in  New  England,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Virginia,  West  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi, 
Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Texas,  Louisiana, 
and  Oklahoma. 

There  is  a  Tristate  Society,  including  Georgia,  Florida  and 
Alabama.  There  were  more  than  twenty  States  represented  in 
the  last  annual  session  of  the  National  Medical  Association. 
There  are  local  societies  in  all  the  cities  and  large  towns  of  the 
country  that  have!  a  numerous  population — Baltimore,  Md. ; 
Washington,  D.  C. ;  Philadelphia,  New  York  City,  Boston, 
Chicago,  Kansas  City,  Mo. ;  Dallas,  Tex. ;  Nashville,  Tenn.,  etc. 
The  ability  displayed  in  some  of  these  society  meetings  I  am 
sure  would  astound  some  people  who  claim  to  "know  all  about 
the  Negro"  and  yet  never  attend  his  lodges,  churches,  or 
societies.  On  the  rosters  of  these  societies  you  will  find  alumni 
of  the  best  medical  colleges  of  this  country. 

There  have  been  fifteen  presidents  of  the  National  Medical 
Association.  In  addition  to  the  leading  Negro  medical  colleges 
— Meharry,  Howard,  and  Leonard — Harvard,  Yale,  Long 
Island,  Western  Reserve,  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Ann 
Arbor  are  represented  in  this  brief  list.  Some  of  these  men 
have  had  the  advantage  of  foreign  travel  and  study. 

Emphatically,  and  without  exaggeration,  the  Negro  doctor 
has  made  good  professionally ;  good  for  his  people,  his  country, 
and  himself. 

II. 

When  the  rewards  become  the  dominating  object  of  pro 
fessional  pursuits,  degeneration  sets  in  and  a  calling  becomes  a 
trade.  Nevertheless,  the  permanent  welfare  of  a  profession 
demands  that  those  who  honestly  and  efficiently  perform  its 
duties  should  be  able  to  answer  without  embarrassment  the 
elemental  but  insistent  questions:  "What  shall  I  eat?  And 
what  shall  I  drink?  And  wherewithal  shall  I  be  clothed?" 
In  this  country,  continued  extreme  poverty  in  any  vocation 


Appendix  F.  417 


must  be  accepted  as  an  indication  of  incapacity.  The  converse 
is  also  true.  A  man  that  accumulates  wealth  must  be  conceded 
a  measure  of  capacity — a  capacity  that  must  not  be  overvalued, 
however;  for  no  virtue  more  easily  becomes  a  vice  than  the 
power  to  accumulate  wealth. 

The  colored  doctor  has  met  the  financial  test.  The  average 
income  among  us  is  up  to  or  a  little  above  the  general  average ; 
we  are  seldom  represented  in  the  extremes  either  up  or  down. 
The  humblest  usually  make  a  living,  and  eventually  gather  a 
modest  competence,  while  the  more  fortunate  and  able  occasion 
ally  become  comparatively  wealthy.  Among  us  there  is  no 
exception  to  a  lamentable  fact  of  civilization,  viz.,  the  brainiest 
and  most  useful  often  remain  poor,  because  of  their  kindnesses 
and  sacrifices,  while  the  less  able  but  more  selfish  frequently 
grow  rich.  I  beg  to  assure  your  correspondent  that  there  is 
no  danger  of  the  Negro  doctor's  cornering  the  wealth  of  the 
nation. 

III. 

How  do  the  colored  and  white  applicants  for  medical  license 
compare?  This  is  a  difficult  and  dangerous  question  to 
answer,  for  from  time  immemorial  comparisons  have  been 
odious.  Prejudice  takes  some  queer  turns,  and  life  reveals 
some  unexpected  compensations.  Nature  is  hard  to  cheat  and 
meanness  seldom  proves  a  permanently  valuable  asset  to  an 
individual  or  race.  The  writer,  while  a  post-graduate  student 
in  a  great  American  city,  joined  with  three  of  his  fellow- 
students  [white,  we  suppose]  to  make  a  class  of  four  to  employ 
a  special  demonstrator  for  certain  operations.  A  consciousness 
of  superiority  led  them  to  form  a  secret  compact  by  which  he 
should  come  last,  which  was  really  the  best  place,  for  he  had 
the  advantage  of  the  teacher's  repeated  demonstrations  and  of 
their  errors.  He  good-naturedly  accepted  the  place  assigned 
him,  but  inwardly  resolved  to  make  the  best  of  it.  This  he 
did,  being  the  only  one  of  the  four  to  do  the  operation  success 
fully  at  the  first  trial.  They  were  kind  enough  and  blind 
enough  to  attribute  it  to  his  superior  ability.  This  happily 
broke  up  further  snobbishness  in  the  class. 

The  State  boards  have  not  been  guilty  of  any  culpable 

27 


418  Appendix  F. 


leniency  to  Negro  applicants ;  consequently,  if  there  be  any  pro 
nounced  difference  in  the  qualification  of  the  applicants,  it  fails 
to  appear  in  the  accepted  product.  The  licensed  Negro  doctors 
have  met  the  same  test  as  licensed  white  doctors,  and  things 
being  equal  to  the  same  thing  equal  each  other.  The  average 
Negro  doctor  is  certainly  as  efficient  with  his  people  as  the 
average  white  doctor  is  with1  his. 


IV. 

Your  correspondent  asks  "What  is  the  best  thing  we  can  do 
to  keep  him  down  ?"  As!  I  said  at  the  start,  the  spirit  of  this 
interrogatory  would  properly  exclude  the  inquirer  from  the 
information  sought,  on  the  ground  of  impure  motives.  But 
envy  and  malice  are  but  perversions  of  the  virtue  of  self- 
preservation.  I  therefore  ignore  the  manifest  unkindness  and 
seek  to  give  my  neighbor  light. 

Creed  is  greater  than  color,  and  brain  is  more  potent  than 
brawn.  The  real  differences  in  races  and  individuals  are  intel 
lectual  rather  than  physical.  The  ignorant  and  vicious  white 
man  is  close  kin  to  the  ignorant  and  vicious  Negro ;  and  all  who 
love  the  truth  and  seek  the  right,  regardless  of  kindred,  tribe, 
or  tongue,  shall  eventually  be  numbered  with  the  elect,  both 
here  and  hereafter.  So  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now  and 
ever  shall  be,  Amen.  So  have  believed  the  great  and  wise  of 
every  age  and  every  clime.  Liberty  is  for  all  or  for  none. 
Civilization  will  never  triumph  until  all  men  desire  freedom  for 
all  men.  In  the  words  of  Burns — 

Then  let  us  pray  that  come  it  may, — 

As  come  it  will  for  a'  that ; 
That  truth  and  worth  o'er  a'  the  earth 

Shall  bear  the  gree  and  a'  that. 

C.  V.  ROMAN,  M.D., 
1303  Church  St.,  Nashville,  Tenn. 

(The  Medical  World,  April,  1914.] 


APPENDIX  G. 

THE  APPORTIONMENT  OF  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS 
IN  THE  SOUTH. 

THE  city  of  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  recently  voted  a  million- 
dollar-bond  issue  for  the  erection  of  new  school  buildings. 
The  school  board  has  completed  its  program  and  has  decided  to 
expend  for  white  schools  the  sum  of  $850,000,  and  for  colored 
schools  the  sum  of  $115,000.  These  figures  are  not  secret,  but 
have  been  published  in  the  Jacksonville  daily  papers;  which 
fact  goes  to  prove  either  that  the  school  board  is  not  conscious 
of  any  unfairness  in  such  ai  division  or  that  it  is  not  ashamed 
to  be  unfair. 

According  to  the  census  of  1910,  the  colored  population  of 
Jacksonville  amounted  to  50.8  per  cent,  of  the  total  population ; 
that  is,  a  little  more  than  half.  There  are  now,  perhaps,  35,000 
colored  people  living  in  that  city;  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
there  is  not  a  community  in  the  South  that  has  a  more  indus 
trious,  enterprising,  progressive,  and  law-abiding  Negro  ele 
ment  than  Jacksonville.  That  this  is  not  a  mere  assertion  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  the  Florida  metropolis  is  one  of  the 
fastest-growing  and  most  prosperous  cities,  not  only  of  the 
South,  but  of  the  whole  country ;  and  if  more  than  one-half  of 
its  population  was  backward  and  shiftless  and  lawless  it  could 
not  make  such  progress.  No  matter  how  energetic  the  white 
people  might  be,  they  could  not  carry  that  amount  of  dead 
weight. 

The  colored  people  of  Jacksonville  are  engaged  in  every 
kind  of  business,  from  peanut  vending  to  banking.  (It  is  need 
less  to  mention  how  much  support  they  give  to  white  business 
enterprises.)  They  work  at  all  the  mechanical  trades,  from 
mending  shoes  to  building  skyscrapers  and  steamships.  They 
do  all  of  the  hard  labor.  Many  of  them  are  home  owners,  and 
pay  a  fair  share  of  taxes.  In  fact,  they  are  essential!  con 
tributors  to  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  their  city. 

On  the  other  hand,  what  do  they  get?  They  get  no  such 
returns  as  come  from  holding  office  and  municipal  jobs.  They 

(419) 


420  Appendix  G. 


benefit  only  to  a  small  degree  from  the  funds  appropriated  for 
public  improvements.  They  have  no  share  in  the  money  spent 
for  public  recreation.  The  only  direct  return  they  get  is  the 
pittance  spent  upon  the  education  of  their  children. 

This  being  the  fact,  is  it  not  just  and  right  and  righteous 
that  they  should  receive  a  fairer  share  of  the  public-school  fund 
than  is  now  contemplated  by  the  Board  of  Education? 

We  cite  this  case  because  it  applies  in  a  general  way  to 
nearly  every  city  in  the  South. 

Look  at  the  figures  given  below.  They  are  from  the 
"Negro  Year-Book"  for  1914-1915,  and  show  the  amount  ex 
pended  per  child  of  school  age  in  the  following  eight  Southern 
States  :— 

Virginia    for  whites,  $10.92 ;  for  colored,  $3.43. 

Florida   for  whites,  14.75 ;  for  colored,  3.10. 

North  Carolina   for  whites,  6.69;  for  colored,  2.50. 

Louisiana  for  whites,  16.60 ;  for  colored,  1.59. 

Mississippi  for  whites,  8.20;  for  colored,  1.53. 

Alabama  for  whites,  8.50 ;  for  colored,  1.49. 

Georgia for  whites,  9.18 ;  for  colored,  1.42. 

South  Carolina for  whites,  9.65;  for  colored,  1.09. 

By  way  of  comparison,  look  at  the  following  figures  pre 
pared  for  the  "World  Almanac"  of  1915,  and  showing  the 
amount  expended  per  child  of  school  age  in  eight  Northern 
States  :— 

New  Jersey $58.51. 

New  York 49.73. 

Massachusetts 49.13. 

Pennsylvania 40.09. 

Connecticut    39.92. 

Rhode  Island 37.06. 

New  Hampshire  36.88. 

Vermont 34.80. 

A  glance  at  these  two  tables  brings  up  the  problem  in  higher 
arithmetic  often  propounded  by  Dr.  Booker  T.  Washington, 
"If  it  costs  $49.13  a  year  to  educate  a  white  child  in  Massa 
chusetts,  how  much  education  can  a  black  child  in  South 
Carolina  get  for  $1.09?" 

We  cannot  complain  because  South  Carolina  does  not  spend 
as  much  as  Massachusetts  for  education,  for  the  simple  reason 


Appendix  G.  421 


that  she  has  not  got  it  to  spend;  but  we  are  justified  in  com 
plaining  of  the  fact  that  South  Carolina  pays  out  $9.65  a  year 
on  the  education  of  each  white  child,  and  only  $1.09  on  each 
colored  child. 

Going  back  to  the  case  of  Jacksonville,  the  statement  made 
above  that  the  colored  people  of  that  city  pay  their  fair  share 
of  the  taxes  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  merits  of  the  question. 
The  theory  of  political  economy  which  recognizes  the  land 
owner  as  the  one  who  really  pays  the  taxes  is  not  tenable.  It  is 
obsolete,  and  the  school  boards  of  Jacksonville  and  of  every 
other  Southern  city  know  it. 

The  35,000  colored  people  in  Jacksonville  live  in  houses 
either  their  own  or  belonging  to  somebody  else,  and  they  pay 
either  taxes  or  rent;  in  either  case,  they  pay  taxes.  Besides, 
they  contribute  their  pro  rata  of  all  indirect  taxes,  and  no  re 
duction  is  made  for  them  in  fines  and  licenses.  So,  for  the 
white  citizens,  because  their  names  are  in  the  majority  on  the 
tax  books,  to  claim  that  they  have  to  stand  the  cost  of  educating 
the  Negro  children  of  the  community  is  as  absurd  as  it  would 
be  for  the  relatively  few  landowners  of  New  York  City  to  com 
plain  that  they  have  to  stand  the  financial  burden  of  educating 
the  thousands  and  thousands  of  children  whose  parents  pay  rent 
for  tenements  and  flats. 

The  South  often  makes  the  boast  that  it  has  spent  hundreds 
of  millions  for  Negro  education,  and  that  it  has  of  its  own  free 
will  shouldered  this  awful  burden.  It  seems  forgetful  of  the 
fact  that  all  of  this  money  has  been  taken  from  the  public  tax 
funds  for  education.  Let  the  millions  of  producing  and  con 
suming  Negroes  be  taken  out  of  the  South,  and  it  would  very 
quickly  be  seen  how  much  less  of  public  funds  there  would  be 
to  appropriate  for  education  or  any  other  purpose. 

As  the  conditions  set  forth  above  are  general  and  concern 
the  whole  race,  let  us  consider  what  we  are  going  to  do  about 
the  matter.  To  narrow  it  down  to  the  case  before  us,  What 
are  the  colored  people  of  Jacksonville  going  to  do  about  it  ?  I 
can  almost  hear  some  reader  answer,  "Nothing." 

But  something  should  be  done.  The  matter  should  at  first 
be  laid  before  the  school  board  in  a  comprehensive,  direct,  and 
intelligent  manner.  If  this  step  should  fail,  the  question  should 


422  Appendix  G. 


be  appealed  to  the  white  citizens  at  large.  It  is  difficult  to 
believe  that  there  are  not  enough  fair-minded  white  people  in 
Jacksonville  to  influence  such  a  case  as  this. 

If  there  are  not  enough  so  fair-minded  as  to  be  able  to  see 
the  justice  of  a  more  equable,  if  not  equal,  division,  there 
ought  at  least  to  be  enough  who  from  an  economic  point  of 
view  could  see  the  advantages  of  it.  They  evidently  want  their 
city  to  continue  to  develop  and  prosper;  well,  it  can't  if  more 
than  half  the  population  is  kept  back  and  down.  It  can't  if  eight 
times  as  much  is  spent  upon  a  white  child  in  order  to  give  him  a 
chance  to  become  a  good  citizen  as  is  spent  upon  a  colored 
child.  It  would  be  common  sense  and  good  business  to  reverse 
the  figures. 

If  neither  of  these  steps  succeed  there  is  only  one  left,  and 
that  is  for  the  colored  citizens  to  raise  sufficient  money  to 
legally  oppose  the  spending  of  the  proceeds  of  the  bonds  in  the 
manner  designated  by  the  school  board.  Let  them  raise  a 
sufficient  amount  to  take  the  case,  if  necessary,  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States. 

JAMES  W.  JOHNSON, 

[The  New  York  Age,  March  11,  1915.] 


GLOSSARY. 


Aborigines.     First   inhabitants    of   a   country;    literally    "from    the 

beginning." 
Abortive.    Happening  out  of  time;  used  in  medicine  to  refer  to  a 

child  born  before  time,  i.e.,  before  it  is  fully  developed.    Hence 

the  word  means,  happening  before  time. 
Abrogate.    Abolish,  repeal,  annul. 
Achromatic.    Without  color. 
Adipose.    Fatty. 

Adjudication.    The  passing  of  judgment. 

Adolescent.    Approaching  manhood  or  womanhood;  youthful. 
Agenesic.    Without  the  power  of  reproduction. 
Alchemy.    The  doctrine  of  early  chemists;  hence  any  magical  or 

mysterious  power  or  process  of  transmuting  or  transforming. 
Alibi.    A  form  of  defense  by  which  the  accused,  in  order  to  estab 
lish  his  innocence,  undertakes  to  show  that  he  was  elsewhere 

when  the  crime  was  committed. 
Alienism.    Estrangement;  alienage. 
Altruism.     Literally  "otherism";  opposed  to  egoism  or  selfishness; 

unselfish  kindness. 

Anaphylaxis.    Inability  to  resist  disease;  susceptibility. 
Anarchy.    Without  government;  lawless. 
Anatomization.    Minute     examination;     analyses     of     anatomical 

structure. 

Anthropology.    Science  of  Man. 
Anthropometry.    That  department  of  Anthropology  which  relates 

to  the  proportions  of  the  human  body. 
Antonym.    A   word   directly   opposed   to   another   in   meaning;    a 

counter  word.     The  opposite  to  synonym. 
Apodictic.    Defined  on  page  5. 
A  posteriori.    Reasoning  from  experience;  empirical;  opposed  to 

a  priori  reasoning. 

A  priori.    A  method  of  reasoning  opposed  to  a  posteriori. 
Architectonic.     Defined  on  page  329. 
Assertory.    Defined  on  page  5. 
Atrophy.    A  drying  up  or  withering  away,  or  to  dry  up  or  wither 

away;  a  medical  term. 
Autocentric.    Self-centered. 
Avatar.    A  champion  or  embodiment  of  a  doctrine;   literally,   an 

incarnation. 
Averments.    Statements;  assertions. 

Bastardize.    To  beget  put  of  wedlock;  to  render  mongrel  or  hybrid. 

Biology.    Science  of  life. 

Blancoid.     Defined  on  page  266. 

Bianco-Negro.     Defined  on  page  246. 

Brachycephalic.    Defined  on  page  167. 

Burke.    Defined  on  page  128. 

Caliber.    Size  (fig.);  capacity  or  compass  of  mind. 
Canon.    A  law  or  rule,  especially  ecclesiastical. 

(423) 


424  Glossary. 


Canonical.     Pertaining  to  a  canon  or  ecclesiastical  law. 

Carcinoma.     Form  of  cancer. 

Casuistry.  Science  or  doctrine  of  cases  of  conscience;  or  of  de 
termining  the  lawfulness  or  unlawfulness  of  what  one  may  do 
by  rules  and  principles  drawn  from  the  Scriptures. 

Catalytic.  Some  bodies  have  the  power  of  inducing  or  causing 
by  their  presence  chemical  changes  in  other  bodies  without 
themselves  undergoing  any  change.  This  power  is  called 
catalysis  or  catalytic  action.  In  sociology,  then,  a  group  of 
people  might  be  said  to  have  a  catalytic  value  when  their  pres 
ence  influences  the  composition  of  the  social  fabric. 

Caucasian.  Term  invented  by  Blumenbach  to  describe  the  white 
variety  of  mankind. 

Cellular.  Pertaining  to  or  composed  of  cells;  cell,  the  unit  of 
physiology. 

Cephalometry.     Defined  on  page  329. 

Chaotic.     Confused;  disordered. 

Chromatopsia.  Disordered  color-vision.  A  disorder  of  vision  in 
which  color-impressions  arise  subjectively.  It  may  be  due  to 
disturbance  of  the  optic  centers,  or  to  drugs. 

Climacteric.    A  critical  period.    In  medicine,  the  menopause. 

Coeval.     Born  at  the  same  time,  or  existing  together. 

Cohorts.    A  band  or  body  of  warriors. 

Complementary.  Completing;  supplying  a  deficiency;  supple 
mentary. 

Composite.  Made  up  of  parts.  A  mixed  blood;  used  as  equivalent 
to  the  general  term  mulatto. 

Congeners.  Born  together.  A  thing  of  the  same  genus;  a  thing 
allied  in  kind  or  nature. 

Congenital.     Existing  from  birth. 

Consanguineous.  Of  same  blood;  related  by  birth;  descended  from 
same  parent  or  ancestor. 

Constituent.  One  who  establishes,  determines,  or  constructs.  One 
who  assists  to  appoint  or  elect  a  representative  to  an  office  or 
employment. 

Contingent.  Not  existing  or  occurring  through  necessity;  con 
ditional. 

Contravention.  The  act  or  state  of  being  in  conflict  with  some 
thing. 

Corollary.    A  deduction  from  previous  propositions. 

Coup  d'etat.  An  unexpected  stroke  of  policy;  a  bold  or  brilliant 
piece  of  statesmanship;  generally  unconstitutional,  executed 
suddenly,  and  often  accompanied  by  violence. 

Craniometry.     Measurements  of  the  skull. 

Crucial.     Critical;  very  important;  severe;  trying  or  searching. 

Cryptogram.    Secret  characters;  cipher. 

Cultural  unity.  Tending  to  promote  refinement  or  education; 
hence,  "cultural  unity"  means  a  group  of  people  having  similar 
ethical  and  economic  standards. 

Cupidity.  Inordinate  desire  to  possess  something;  covetousness; 
lust. 

Cystoma.    Form  of  tumor  or  swelling  containing  fluid. 

Delinquency.  Failure  or  omission  of  duty  or  obligation;  a  short 
coming. 

Detriment.     Injury;  mischief;  harm. 

Diapason.    The  entire  compass  of  a  voice  or  of  an  instrument. 
Diatribe.     Bitter  or  violent  criticism;  a  strain  of  invective. 


Glossary.  425 


Dicteria.     Plural  of  dicterion;  schools  of  prostitution. 

Dicteriades.    A  class  of  prostitutes  among  the  Greeks. 

Dicterion.    School  of  prostitution. 

Differentiation.  Formation  of  differences  or  the  discrimination  of 
varieties;  specialization. 

Disputant.    One  who  disputes.    Disputing  or  debating. 

Disputation.  A  reasoning  or  argumentation  in  opposition  to  some 
thing. 

Doctrinaire.    Theoretical;  impractical. 

Dolichocephalic.    Denned  on  page  167. 

Dysgenesic.     Reproducing  with  difficulty. 

Ebullition.  Boiling;  effervescence  which  is  occasioned  by  fermen 
tation;  outward  display  of  feeling  or  agitation. 

Elephantiasis.  A  tropical  disease  characterized  by  an  enormous 
enlargement  of  the  affected  part. 

Embryological.  The  development  of  the  embryo  and  fetus  of 
animals;  pertaining  to  anything  in  its  first  rudiments  or  un 
developed  state. 

Emmenagogue.  A  medical  term  used  to  designate  a  medicine  or 
agent  to  stimulate  menstrual  flow. 

Emmet.      An  ant. 

Empirical.  Depending  upon  experience  and  observation  without 
due  regard  to  science  or  theory. 

En  masse.    A  French  phrase  meaning  all  together;  in  a  body. 

Envisage.  To  look  in  the  face  of;  to  apprehend  by  a  direct  or 
immediate  act;  to  know  by  intuition. 

Epithelioma.    A  kind  of  cancer. 

Equivalent.    That  which  is  equal  in  value,  weight,  dignity,  or  force. 

Ethnical.    Racial. 

Ethnology.  The  science  which  treats  of  the  divisions  of  man  into 
races,  their  origin  and  relations,  and  the  differences  which 
characterize  them. 

Etiolation.     Defined  on  page  351. 

Eugenesic.    Easily  reproducing. 

Eurignathic.     Defined  on  page  328. 

Execration.  Cursing  or  abusing;  detestation;  imprecation  of  evil; 
utter  detestation  expressed. 

Facial  angle.     Defined  on  page  331. 
Fatuous.     Feeble  in  mind;  weak;  silly;  stupid. 
Fecundation.    Fertilizing  or  making  fruitful. 
Fibroma.    A  form  of  tumor  or  enlargement. 

Finesse.    Delicate  skill;  refinement;  subtlety  of  contrivance;  cun 
ning;  strategy. 
Flagellation.    Whipping;  flogging;  discipline  with  the  scourge. 

Gamut.    Figuratively,  the  whole  scale,  range,  or  compass  of  a  thing. 

Ganglionic.    A  cluster  or  nodule  of  nerve-cells. 

Genitalia.    The  sexual  organs. 

Genito-urinary.     Pertaining  to  the  bladder,  kidneys,  and  the  sexual 

organs. 

Ghetto.    Jews'  quarter  in  Rome.     A  segregated  district. 
Glandular.     Pertaining  to  glands. 
Glottologist.    A  philologist;  one  versed  in  or  engaged  in  study  of 

languages. 
Gregariously.     Having  the  habit  of  living  in  a  flock  or  herd;  not 

habitually  solitary  or  living  alone. 


426  Glossary. 


Gullible.     Easily  deceived;  tricked;  cheated  or  defrauded. 
Gynecology.    The  medical  study  that  treats  of  women  and  the  dis 
eases  peculiar  to  the  female  sex. 

Hegemony.  Leadership;  preponderant  influence  of  authority;  usu 
ally  applied  to  government. 

Heterosexual.  That  natural  affinity  occurring  between  opposite 
sex. 

Hexiology.     Defined  on  page  228. 

Hicrarch.    One  who  rules  or  has  authority  in  sacred  things. 

Histological.  Pertaining  to  the  tissues.  That  branch  of  biology 
that  treats  of  the  structure  of  tissues  of  organized  bodies. 

Hominidae.  A  zoological  classification  designating  man  as  distinct 
from  other  living  creatures. 

Homogeneous.  Sameness  of  kind  or  nature;  uniformity  of  struc 
ture,  elements  alike. 

Homosexual.  When  persons  of  the  same  sex  are  attracted  to  each 
other  sexually,  the  affinity  is  said  to  be  homosexual;  an 
abnormality. 

Iconoclastic.    Breaker  or  destroyer  of  images  or  idols;  exposer  of 

impositions. 

Idepmotor.    Thought-rule,  or  governed  by  ideas  rather  than  feel 
ing.    The  opposite  of  sensorimotor. 
Idyl.     Literally  a  little  form  or  image.     A  short  poem;  properly 

a  pastoral  poem. 

Immanent.     Indwelling;  inherent;  remaining  within. 
Immiscibles.     Not  capable  of  being  mixed. 
Immunity.    Freedom  from  obligation;  exemption  from  any  charge, 

duty,  office  tax,  or  imposition;  a  particular  privilege. 
Impregnable.    State  or  quality  of  being  invincible;  that  cannot  be 

taken  by  assault.    In  biology,  capable  of  being  impregnated. 
Inadequacy.    State  or  quality  of  being  insufficient  or  unequal  to  a 

requirement. 

Inalienable.     Incapable  of  being  put  off  or  transferred  to  another. 
Inanity.    Void  space;  emptiness;  frivolity. 
Incarcerate.     Imprison;  to  confine. 
Incorrigible.    Hopelessly  depraved. 
Increment.    A  growing  bulk,  number,  quantity,  value  or  amount; 

augmentation. 
Infinitesimal.    That  which  is  extremely  small;  less  than  assignable 

quantity. 

Inhere.    To  be  fixed  or  permanently  incorporated. 
Insidious.    Sly;  treacherous;  crafty;  wily;  designing. 
Intermediary.    That  which  lies  between  or  is  intermediate. 
Iridescent.     Having  colors  like  the  rainbow. 
Iteration.    Repetition. 

Keloid.  A  peculiar  kind  of  tumor  or  swelling  that  grows  about 
scars.  A  keloid  seems  composed  of  scar-tissue. 

Kinetic  (Physics).  Of,  pertaining  to,  or  due  to  motion;  often  con 
trasted  with  potential,  as  kinetic  energy. 

Lacedaemonian.    Spartan. 

Laissez  faire.  A  French  phrase  abbreviated  from  a  sentence  mean 
ing  let  alone,  the  world  revolves  of  itself;  hence,  the  expression 
means  non-interference;  doctrine  of  letting  things  alone;  in 
economics,  unrestricted  competition. 


Glossary.  427 


Lascivious.    Wanton;  lewd;  lustful. 

Latent.    Hidden;  in  secret  or  concealed  manner. 

Lecherous.    Lewd;  strong  propensity  to  indulge  sexual  appetite. 

Leiotrichi.     Defined  on  page  328. 

Leonidas.    A  king  of  Sparta  famous  for  his  courage;  was  killed 

at  Thermopylae. 
Leptorrhinian.    Thin-nosed;    used    to    describe    certain    classes    of 

people. 
Lugubrious.    Sad;  mournful;  indicating  sorrow. 

Marchette  or  Marchetta.  A  feudal  custom  by  means  of  which  the 
lord  of  the  manor  controlled  the  marital  rights  of  the  daugh 
ters  of  his  tenants. 

Martyrology.    History  of  martyrs;  a  catalogue  of  martyrs. 

Matrix.    A  mold. 

Megasemes  ") 

Mesosemes  >  Defined  on  page  332. 

Microsemes  J 

Mesorhinians.  Classes  of  people  having  certain  bird-like  noses; 
small-nosed. 

Microcosm.  A  little  world.  A  miniature  institution.  Hence  man, 
supposed  to  be  an  epitome  of  the  universe  or  great  world. 

Milieu.    A  French  word  meaning  environment. 

Mirabile  dictu.     Latin  phrase  meaning  wonderful  to  tell. 

Mirage.    An  optical  illusion. 

Misanthrope.  A  hater  of  mankind;  one  who  harbors  dislike  or  dis 
trust  of  human  character  or  motives  in  general. 

Miscegenation.    A  mixing  of  races;  amalgamation. 

Miserere.  One  of  the  penitential  psalms;  a  prayer  or  ejaculation 
for  mercy. 

Misology.  Hatred  of  discussion  or  inquiry;  aversion  to  enlight 
enment. 

Monochrome.    One  color;  as  a  painting  with  a  single  color. 

Monogamy.  Single  marriage;  principle  which  upholds  marrying 
only  one. 

Monogenesis.    Oneness  of  origin. 

Monograph.  A  special  treatise  on  a  particular  subject  of  limited 
range. 

Monomaniac.    Insane  on  some  particular  subject. 

Monopoly.    Exclusive  control;  command  or  possession. 

Moral  obliquity.    Crookedness. 

Morganatic.  Pertaining  to  a  kind  of  marriage,  called  also  left- 
handed  marriage,  between  man  and  woman  of  different  ranks 
in  which  the  one  of  inferior  rank  inherits  no  title  or  pos 
session  of  the  superior. 

Morphology.  That  branch  of  biology  that  treats  of  the  form  and 
structure  of  animals  and  plants. 

Nebulous.  Having  its  parts  mixed,  confused,  or  blended;  figu 
ratively,  not  clear;  hazy. 

Negrophily.    Love  of  the  Negro. 

Negrophobe.    One  unreasonably  excited  about  the  Negro. 

Neoplasm.    An  abnormal  growth. 

Ne  plus  ultra.    Nothing  more  beyond;  a  latin  phrase. 

Noblesse  oblige.  A  French  phrase  meaning,  literally,  nobility 
obliges;  noble  birth  or  rank  compels  to  noble  acts.  Hence  the 
phrase  means  the  obligation  of  noble  conduct  imposed  upon 
those  favored  with  high  position  or  authority.  The  very  posi- 


428  Glossary. 


tion  of  the  white  man  in  this  country  should  make  him  kind 
and  considerate  in  dealing  with  the  colored  man. 

Nomenclature.    A  system  of  naming. 

Norm.    A  rule  or  authoritative  standard;  a  model;  a  type. 

Nostalgia.     Excessive  longing  for  home  or  country;  homesickness. 

Nouveau  riche.    Newly  rich;  uncultured. 

Nuance.  A  shade  of  difference  in  color;  a  slight  degree  of  differ 
ence  in  anything  perceptible  to  senses  or  mind. 

Objectivity.     The  quality  of  being  manifest;  visible,  or  tangible. 

Obsessed.     Vexed  or  besieged  by  evil  spirit. 

Oligarchy.    Class  government. 

Ontogeny.    The  history  of  the  evolution  of  the  individual;  germ 

history. 
Orgie.    A   wild   or   frantic   revel;   a   nocturnal    carousal;    drunken 

revelry. 
Orientation.    Finding  the  east;  locating  the  points  of  the  compass; 

getting  one's  bearings.    Defined  on  page  12. 
Orthognathic.     Defined  on  page  328. 
Orthognathism.    The  condition  of  being  orthognathic. 

Palaver.    A  parley;  a  conference. 

Paleontology.    The  science  of  the  ancient  life  of  the  earth,  or  of 

fossils  which  are  the  remains  of  such  life. 
Pariah.     Beggar;  outcast;  one  rejected  by  society. 
Pelvis.    The  open,  bony  structure  at  the  lower  extremity  of  the 

body,  usually  inclosing  internal  urinary  and  genital  organs  and 

always  connecting  posterior  members  with  the  spine. 
Personnel.    The  body  of  persons  employed  in  some  public  service, 

as  the  army  or  navy,  as  distinguished  from  the  material. 
Perspective.    A  view;  a  vista. 
Phallic.     Pertaining  to  the  genitalia. 
Philology.     Study  of  languages. 

Philtre.    A  potion  to  excite  sexual  love  or  desire;  a  love  potion. 
Phylogenetic.    Appertaining  to  phylogeny. 
Phylogeny.    The   evolution   of   the   species   as   distinguished   from 

ontogeny,  the  evolution  of  the  individual. 
Placenta!.    A  mammal  having  a  placenta. 
Platyrrhine.    Wide-  or  broad-  nosed;  one  of  a  group  of  monkeys 

having  large,  wide  nostrils. 
Poignant.     Painful;  severe;  piercing;  very  painful  or  acute;  sharp; 

penetrating. 

Polychrome.     Many-colored. 
Polygenesis.    From  Greek  words  meaning  many  and  origination; 

hence  it  means  arising  from  many  sources. 
Polyp.     A  small  animal  of  extremely  simple  construction. 
Potential.     Having  latent  power. 

Precocious.    A  premature  growth  or  development;  early  ripeness. 
Predestination.     Foreordaining   events.     Often   the   preassignment 

or  allotment  of  men  to  eternal  happiness  or  misery. 
Prerequisite.     Previously   required   or   necessary   to  any   proposed 

effect  or  end. 
Primate.     One  of  a   group   of   mammals   in   the   Linnaean    system, 

including  man  and  monkeys,  sometimes  only  man. 
Primordial.     First  in  order;  original;  of  very  earliest  origin. 
Probity.     Rectitude;  uprightness;  honesty. 
Problematic.      Questionable;     uncertain;     unsettled;      disputable; 

doubtful. 


Glossary.  429 


Procreative.    Reproductive;  generative. 

Progenitor.    An  ancestor  in  the  direct  line. 

Progeny.     Offspring;  race;  children. 

Prognathism.     Projection  of  the  jaws  forward.     See  Facial  angle. 

Prognathous.      Defined  on  page  328. 

Protoplasmic.     Pertaining  to  the  first  formation  of  living  bodies. 

Pseudo-science.     Pretended  or  counterfeit  science. 

Psychical.     Of  or  pertaining  to  the  human  soul  or  mind. 

Psychology.     Science  of  the  human  soul;  mental  science;  mental 

philosophy. 
Pulsometer.    A  pumping  device.     Frequently  spelled  pulsimeter. 

Reconnoiter.    To   make  a  preliminary  survey   or  investigation. 

Recrimination.  To  retort  a  charge;  to  charge  back  a  fault  or 
crime  upon  an  accuser. 

Reincarnate.  Reclothe  in  flesh;  embodying  again;  a  manifestation; 
a  personification. 

Reiteration.     Repetition;  tautology. 

Repertoire.  A  list  of  numbers,  pieces,  or  the  like,  that  a  person 
or  company  is  prepared  to  perform,  and  from  which  pro 
grams  may  be  made  up. 

Res  adjudicata.  A  Latin  phrase  meaning  settled  or  adjudicated 
matter;  a  closed  question. 

Salient.    Prominent;  conspicuous. 

Sarcoma.    A  tumor  made  up  of  embryonal  connective  tissue. 

Satraps.     Rulers;  governors. 

Savant.    A  person  eminent  for  acquirements. 

Sedentary.     Inactive;     motionless;     sluggish;     accustomed    to     sit 

much,  or  long. 
Sensorimotor.    Action  controlled  by  sense  impressions  or  feelings 

rather  than  reason.    Defined  on  page  168. 
Sensorium.    A   center  for   sensations,   especially   the   part   of   the 

brain  concerned  in   receiving  and   combining  the   impressions 

conveyed  to  the  individual  sensory  centers. 

Sentient.     Having  a  faculty  of  sensation  and  perception;  perceiving. 
Seriatim.    In  regular  order. 
Simioid.     Resembling  a  monkey;  monkey-like. 
Snobbishness.     Pretentiousness;  to  pretend  to  be  something  better 

than  one  is. 

Spurious.     Not  legitimate;  bastard;  false;  counterfeit. 
Steatopyga.     Enormous  fatness  of  the  buttocks. 
Stigmatize.    To  mark  with  a  stigma  or  brand;  to  set  a  mark  of  dis 
grace  on;  to  disgrace  with  reproach  or  infamy. 
Strabismus.     Squinting;  the  act  or  habit  of  looking  asquint.     An 

affection  of  the  eye,  or  eyes,  in  which  the  optic  axes  cannot  be 

directed  to  the  same  object. 
Sub-brachycephaly.    Defined  on  page  167. 

Succedaneum.     Substitute;  that  which  is  used  for  something  else. 
Synonymous.     Identical;  interchangeable. 

Tablier.  An  apron;  in  anatomy,  used  to  designate  a  peculiar  for 
mation  of  the  female  genitalia. 

Tenet.  An  opinion,  principle,  dogma,  or  doctrine  that  a  person 
holds  or  maintains  to  be  true. 

Tetrapod.    A  quadruped;  four-footed. 

Thermopylae.     Famous  Grecian  pass.     Battlefield  in  B.C.  480. 


430  Glossary. 


Thews.  Sinews  or  muscles,  especially  when  well  developed;  hence, 
bodily  strength  or  vigor. 

Transcendentalism.  In  general  the  doctrine  that  the  principles  of 
reality  are  to  be  discovered  by  the  study  of  the  processes  of 
thought;  surpassing;  excelling;  superior  or  supreme. 

Travesty.     Burlesque;  parody  caricature. 

Triplicate.    Threefold,  or  to  make  threefold. 

Trireme.  A  galley  or  vessel  with  three  ranks  of  oars  on  each  side, 
commanded  by  a  trierarch  and  often  manned  by  over  200  men. 

Turpitude.  Inherent  baseness  and  vileness  of  principle,  nature,  or 
conduct;  depravity. 

Tyro.  One  in  the  very  rudiments  of  any  branch  of  study;  a  be 
ginner  in  learning;  a  novitiate. 

Ulotrichi.     Defined  on  page  328. 

Unsophisticated.  Free  from  adulteration;  free  from  artificiality; 
simple;  artless;  showing  inexperience;  verdant. 

Vacillating.    Swaying  back  and  forth;  wavering. 

Venality.     State  or  character  of  being  venal  or  sordid;  mercenari- 

ness;  prostitution  of  talents,  offices,  or  services  for  money  or 

reward. 

Venereal.    Of  or  pertaining  to  venery  or  sexual  intercourse. 
Venery.     Gratification  of  sexual  desires. 

Verisimilitude.     Probability;  likelihood;  appearance  of  truth. 
Vicarious.    Acting  or  suffering  for  another;  performed  or  suffered 

for  another. 

Vicinage.     Neighborhood,  vicinity;  a  village. 
Vicissitude.     Complete  change;  a  revolution;  mutation. 
Vis-a-vis.     In  a  position  facing  one  another. 
Vitiates.    To  make  void;  to  impair;  to  spoil. 
Votaries.     Persons  devoted,  promised,  consecrated,  or  engaged  by 

a  vow. 

Yclept.    Named;  called. 

Zygomatic.  Of  or  pertaining  to  the  zygoma,  a  bony  arch  placed  in 
man  upon  the  side  of  the  head,  back  of  the  cheeks,  and  ex 
tending  from  the  prominence  of  the  cheeks  to  the  ear. 


INDEX. 


Abbott,  Rev.  Lyman,  124 

A  fro- American  (will  continue 
struggle  for  man's  place),  311 

Alderman,  Edwin  A.,  (note)  223 

Alien  (Negro  not  so  in  this 
country),  289 

Amalgamation  (deterioration  fol 
lowing),  399 

American  environment,  353 

Animal,  man  is,  10 

Appendicitis,  44 

Archer,  Wm.,  90,  290,  312 

Armstrong,  Samuel  Chapman,  273 

Atkinson,  Howard,  284 

Attributes  (distinctly  human),  16, 
17,  18,  19,  20 

Attucks,  Crispus,  289 

Audran,  G.,  337 

Aughey,  Rev.  John  H.,  (notes) 
252,  382 

Bacon,  Lord,  293 
Baker,  Ray  Stannard,  320 
Banneker,  Benjamin,  289 
Barton,  Rev.  A.  J.,  234,  235,  266 
Bean,  Robt.  Bennett,  172,  173,  360, 

361 

Beauty  (canons  of),  336,  337 
Bennett  (Ph.D.),  C.  H.,  214,  215 
Blancoids,  266 
Blumenbach,  323,  324 
Boas,  Franz,  8,  17,  46,  59,  173,  266 
Boston  Courier,  200 
Braden,  John,  273 
Branson,  E.  C.,  270 
Bratton,  Bishop  Theodore,  371 
Brough,  C.  H.,  269 
Bryant,  Wm.  Cullen,  149 
Bryce,  Jas.,  139 
Buckle,  381 
Buddha,  94 
Burris,  Henry  E.,  41 

Cable,  Geo.  W.,  228,  241,  242,  245, 

246,  300,  353,  388 
Czesar,  4 

Camper,  Pierre,  (note)  331 
Careers  (of  nations),  2 
Carnegie,  Andrew,  124 


Caucasians,  2 

raised  as  slaves,  396 
Cettiwayo,  130 

Changes  (in  Negro's  status),  291 
Channing,  247 
Child,  Lydia  Maria,  140 
Civilization  (white  man's),  95 
Class  distinction,    (note)    170 
Clayton,  Smith,  198 
Color  and  environment,  340 

-line,  393 
how  settled,  395 

prejudice,  2 
Colquit,  Gov.,  287 
Commercial     Appeal     (Memphis, 

Tenn.),  205 

Composite  (legal  status  of),  398 
Conditions,  modern  social,  112 
Confederate  soldiers,  91 
Convict-lease  system,  (note)  306 
Coon,  Chas.  L.,  371,  372 
Corson,  43 

Cox,  Mrs.  Minnie,  393 
Cravath,  Erasmus,  273 
Crime,  298,  299 

Cruelty  in  the  North,  406,  409 
Curse  of  the  age,  309 
Cuvier,  10 

Danziger,  xii 

Darwin,  187 

Day,  343 

Decision  of  U.  S.  Supreme  Court, 

(note)  224 

Declaration  of  Independence,  xii 
Delaney,  Martin  R.,  295 
De  Loach.  Prof.  J.  H.,  46,  270,  343 
Democracy,  174,  175 
Democratic  principles    (trust  in), 

284 

Deniker,  18,  320,  353,  359 
Designations  (racial),  125 
De  Tocqueville,  252 
Differences  (in  mankind),  3 
Discovery.  A,  130 
Dominating  forces,  23 
Don  Frederick,  109 
d'Orbigny,  343 
Douglass,  Frederick,  295 

(431) 


432 


Index. 


DuBois,  Patterson,  122 

DuBois,  W.  E.  BM  163,  164,  156, 

265,  363,  364 
Dunbar,   Paul   Laurence,  36,   368, 

375 

Eddy,  Mrs.,  14 
Elliott,  Chas.  W.,  201 
Ellis,  Havelock,  78,  105 
Emancipation  (not  a  failure),  291 
Emmerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  222 
Enfranchisement  and   reconstruc 
tion,  291 
Environment,  24 
Ethnology  (conclusions  of),  260 
Eusebius,  108 
Evidence  (preponderance  of),  6 

Facts,  6 

Fanaticism   (religious),  101 
Fate  (of  American  Negro),  265 
Finot,  323,  329,  334,  335,  336,  344, 

345,  347,  348,  349 
(of  mixed  bloods),  360 
Fisher,  Mr.  Isaac,  189 
Fletcher,  247,  248,  249,   279,  379, 

380,  381 
Follies,  1 

Friends  (Negro  grateful  to),  286 
Future    (of    races    in    this    coun- 

try),  2 

Gage,  381 

Games   (Floralian),  84 

Gegenbaur,  10 

Guyot,  64,  176,  177,  179 

Haeckel,  Ernst,  10,  14 
Hammond,    Jas.    Henry,     (note) 

159 

Hammond,  Mrs.  J.  D.,  272 
Hartzel    (Bishop),  184 
Haygood,  Atticus  G.,  273 
Hearts  (on  our  side),  256 
Hebrew      (conditions      compared 

with  colored  American),  403, 

405 

Heredity,  23 

Hubbard,  George  W.,  273 
Humanity  (greater  than  race),  1 
Hunley,  Wm.  N.,  270 
Huxley,  19,  167,  (note)  328 
Hysterics  (of  the  subject),  286 

Incompatibilities  (of  races),  3 

Indian,  134 

Initiation   (sexual),  83 


Johnston,  Sir  Harry,  89,  120,  121 

157,  (note)  360,  376 
Jubilee  music,  295 
Judgments  (kinds  of),  5 
Justin  (Martyr),  108 
Jarrold,  342 

Kant,  70 

Keane,  130,  323,  325,  352,  355,  358 

Kriegk,  342 

Language,  12 

Leaders  (Braden,  Cravath,  Arm 
strong,  Ware,  Phillips,  and 
Hubbard),  273 

Lies   (three  kinds  of),  4 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  140 

Linnaeus,  10 

Little,  John,  271 

Livingstone,  341 

Lovinggood,  R.  S.,  213 

Lyell,  343 

Macaulay,  103,  145 
Man  (classified),  9,  10 
(glory  to),  14 
(bound  to  earth),  14 
(can  become  beast),  14 
(distinguished  from  beast),  16 
Manouvrier,  8 
Matas,  Prof.,  45 
McGill,  S.  Waters,  213 
McNeilly,  Rev.  Jas.  H.,  22 
Medical  World,  414,  418 
Miller,  Dr.  Herbert,  185 
Miller,    Prof.    Kelly,    (note)    34, 

222,  369,  370 
Misrepresentation  (in  literature,  a 

protest  aeainst),  401 
Morse,  Prof.  Josiah,  270,  388 
Mosby,  (note)  250,  389 
Motley     (Dutch     Republic),     102, 

111,  112 
Mulattoes,  246 
Murphy,  E.  G.,  30,  31,  40,  42,  90, 

91,  175,  192,  195,  198,  231,  232, 

243,  301,  388 

Naarden,  109,  110 
Napoleon,  1 
Negro,  303,  304 

(ought  to  show  political  sense), 

302 

New  Republic,  (note)  306 
New  York  Age,  168 
New  York  Times,  156,  157 
Norton,  343 


Index. 


433 


O'Connell,  Daniel,   (note)   155 
Octoroons  (classed  as  white),  393 

(not  always  classed  as  white), 
398 

(sold  as  slaves),  394 
Oliver,  Sir  Sidney,  227 
Opinion  (public),  6,  160 
Orientation,  12 
Osborne,  S.  O.,  82 
Owen,  Commodore,  146 

Page,  Thomas  Nelson,  195,  196 

Payne,  Bishop,  154,  373 

Pennington,  J.  W.  C,  318 

Personal  appearance,  353 

Phillips  (of  Roger  Williams  Uni 
versity),  259,  273 

Phillips,   Wendell,   242,   256,   352, 
388 

Pike,  Albert,  274 

Prejudice  (race),  132 

Presence  of  Negro  and  progress 
in  South,  167 

Principles  (fundamental),  6 
(we  ignore),  7 

Problems   (some  basic),  69 
(phases  of  Negro),  285 

Prognathism,  328,  330 

Primer,  340 

Primer-Bey,  341 

Psychology  of  crime,  412 

Public     school      system      (estab 
lished),  286 

Quatrefages,  3,  344,  351 

Race  psychology,  349 
rule,  287 

Racial  classification  (Pearce  Kint- 
zing,      Blumenbach,      Cuvier, 
Bory  de  Saint  Vincent),  327 
differences,  321 

Ratzel,  Frederick,  324 

Ready's  Mirror  (note  on  segrega 
tion),  384 

Religion     (a    factor    in    political 
destiny),  294 

Ross,  E.  A.,  135 

Ross,  Wm.  Stewart,  100,  112,  113, 
114,  147 

Royce,  Josiah,  69,  95,  173 

Saladin,  107,  138,  139 
Sanger,  77,  80,  83,  182 
Sass,  Dr.,  81 
Sayce,  325 

School  funds  (apportionment  of), 
419,  422 


Schwiker,  324 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  203 

Scroggs,  W.  O.,  271 

Segregation,  31,  47 

Sentiment  of  Western  civilization, 
281 

Seward,  Wm.  Henry,  141 

Shufeldt,  93,  359 

Singh,  S.  N.,  275 

Situation  (psychology  of  the),  277 
(racial),  47 

Slave-trade       laws       (movement 
against),  157 

Slavery,  95 

(African  in  America),  141 
(designed  to  be  perpetual),  279 
(of  mixed  bloods),  396 
(principles  of),  278 

Slaves,  Grecian,  92 

Smith  ("Color-line"),  254,  255 

Smith,  Stanhope,  343 

Smith,  Wm.  A.,  277 

Smith,  Wm.  Benj.,  225,  266 

Social  barriers  (Negro  no  desire 
to  break  over),  288 

Society     (Negro's    entrance    into 
private  white),  288 

Solution,  223 

Soul  of  Democracy,  287 

Southern    Sociological    Congress, 
269 

Southey,    (note)    185 

Spirit  of  slavery,  287,  290 

St.  Paul,  3 

Struggling  to  the  light,  125 

Succedaneums,  280 

Sumner,  Chas.,  222 

Talbot,  183 

Taylor,  Bayard,  67 

Taylor,  Bishop,  181 

Teachers,  7 

Test   (the  acid),  xii 

"The  Crisis,"  (note)  5,  (note)  229 

Thirkield,  Wilbur,  Rt.  Rev.,  229 

Thornton,  Douglass  M.,  166 

Tillman,  Ben.  R.,  (note)  39,  393 

Todd,  341 

Toombs,  Robt.,  142 

Toussaint,  296 

Trade,  slave,  101-152 

Truth,  Sojourner,  313,  296 

Tubman,  Harriet,  296 

Turner,  Nat,  296 


Vance,  Dr.  J.  I., 
Variations,  47,  48 


123 


(in  different  races),  4 


28 


434 


Index. 


Variations  (undesirable),  60 
Virchow,  341 

Waitz,  324,  340 

Walker,  Rev.  C  T.,  374 

Ward,  Stephen,  344 

Ware,  E.  A.,  273 

Warren,  Dr.,  344 

Washington,  Dr.  B.  T.,  (note)  27, 

265 
Washington,   George    (slept   with 

colored  man),  401 


Watson,  A.  D.,  8,  166 

Weather  ford,  W.  D.  (Ph.D.),  235, 
269 

West  Indies,  143 

What  do  American  white  people 
want,  288 

What  Negro  may  reasonably  ex 
pect  of  white  man,  199 

Willard.  Jess,  282 

Williams,  278 

Williams,  W.  B.  T.,  61 

Witnesses  (a  cloud  of),  257 

Work,  Prof.  J.  W.,  181,  182 


